


That Punk Bitch

by reindeerXtrash



Category: Bully (Video Games)
Genre: Jealousy, Love rectangle, Multi, Suicide mentions, hhh use of the word fag, jesus christ im losing myself to this bloody game, self harm mentions, slight sexual assualt, there will be a happy ending I promise
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-07-14
Packaged: 2019-03-17 14:53:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 27,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13661313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reindeerXtrash/pseuds/reindeerXtrash
Summary: A new girl is at school and she's being tormented by the rich kids, unluckily for those said rich kids, she has a plan to keep them in check (with help from friends of course). However her brilliant plan starts to fail when she begins to see that not all of the preppies despise her.





	1. A new Challenger Approaches

"Welcome to Bullworth Academy, I trust you are aware of the class scheduling that we sent in the mail along with your uniform" Miss Danvers, the school secretary almost barked at the new student standing before her.

"Yes ma'am" the new student, Chloe spoke politely, holding on to her bag strap with a deadly grip.

"Come along, I haven't got all day to give you a tour, we'll start at the headmaster's office, he'll be so pleased that his scholarship will go to a very bright girl" Miss Danvers chuckled as she walked through the open gates of the school.

To Chloe this school looked like a paradise, it was almost a perfect picture of what a school should be like, as she was less fortunate in financial terms she had won a scholarship to this school and she would be the only one in her family to attend a high-profile private school such as this. After the meeting with the headmaster had ended she went to find her locker, she was struggling to find it so she asked the nearest person she found, he was a tallish boy with platinum blonde hair.

"E-excuse me, do you know where locker A-13 is?" Chloe asked civilly.

"No and why should I care, people like you are exactly what father warned me about, always expecting handouts and help, too lazy to do their own work" the boy sneered and then walked off.

"Right, let's try again shall we" Chloe exhaled to herself and then asked a girl who was at the lockers.

"Can you please help me find locker A-13?" Chloe requested "that boy wasn't exactly much help."

"Oh that's right next to mine, what a coincidence" the girl smiled "oh and that was Derby Harrington, he never is any help, he's got a stick so far up his ass it's a wonder he never smiles."

"Ah, Harrington, I've heard of his family, that big oil business, my dad used to work the rigs for them" Chloe laughed almost, it was pitiful that someone of Derby's social standing acted like he was ruler of the universe, she entered the code into her locker's padlock and placed her bag inside.

"He's a major republican though, so if you're a liberal just don't talk politics with him, his kind never listen to common sense" the girl sighed.

"I guessed, by the way I never introduced myself, I'm Chloe, I'm new here if you can't tell" Chloe giggled and held out her hand.

"I'm Elizabeth, but most people call me Liz, oh and don't get your hopes up, this school is shit, trust me it's not worth the $1,800 per semester they ask for" Elizabeth informed her.

Suddenly the bell for the first lesson went, Chloe had chemistry and by the looks of it her new locker friend did as well, they both entered the class, Chloe was handed a textbook from Dr. Watts and was instructed to wait at a station, everyone else had lab partners whilst she was alone. Suddenly the door opened and Derby Harrington; the boy she had a minor disagreement with earlier, had entered the room.

"Harrington, I'd like you to work with Miss Gravett today, show her the ropes" Dr. Watts struggled to remember both Chloe's and Derby's surnames due to his "brain damage."

"Great" Derby muttered under his breath, he almost detested everyone in the room as they appeared to be lower than him in his mind, he slammed his textbook down on the desk with attitude.

"Right today we will be looking at the alkali metals, which is in group...errr..." Dr. Watts trailed off.

"Group 1 of the periodic table, sir?" Chloe called out, she then covered her mouth with her hand "sorry" she then apologised.

"No, no you're quite right, I just had a memory lapse that's all" Dr. Watts chuckled.

"Smartass" Derby muttered, resting his chin on his hand.

"It's simple chemistry, it's not that hard to understand" Chloe hissed "maybe if you didn't act all high and mighty all the time maybe you'd be good at this."

Derby glared at her, he was angered by Chloe's comment his brown eyes were burning with absolute fury. When the bell went for lunch Chloe decided to go to her locker to her bag, the halls were empty, suddenly she felt herself being grabbed from behind, she was then slammed into the lockers.

"I won't fucking hesitate to beat street rat scum like you, and yes I'm aware of your scholarship, you're not getting any special treatment just because you're poor, if it were up to me you wouldn't even be attending this school!" Derby growled, he had his lackeys standing either side of him.

"Alright then, beat me up, I'm not afraid of people like you" Chloe snapped, she was staring into his eyes, she could sense that he was a coward.

"I can't be bothered to, you're not worth my time" Derby groaned as he rolled his eyes and then walked off, his sidekicks following.

Chloe was almost relieved that she hadn't taken a fist to the face that day, she went to find Elizabeth and she sat down next to her.

"Well Derby just tried to punch me in the face because I insulted him" Chloe explained nonchalantly.

"Ouch, well he's a rich spoilt brat so I'm not surprised" Elizabeth mumbled.

"Yes, but you have to admit he is kinda cute, if you ignore his egomaniac personality" Chloe admitted quietly.

"Oh my god no, don't fall for him, he's the human representation of actual two week old garbage" Elizabeth panicked.

"And I haven't fallen for him, he's just too gross, like yeah he's attractive but his personality is just plain awful" Chloe sighed.

"Why is it that attractive guys are the ones with awful personalities?" Elizabeth asked metaphorically.

Chloe shrugged, she checked her watch and her class schedule, she had Maths next, thankfully it was a class that did not contain Derby Harrington which made her cheerful. After Maths ended she walked back to her locker and claimed her bag, she walked home, and was greeted by a hug from her mother.

"How was your first day at school sweetie?" Chloe's mother asked.

"Great, I've made a friend and there's this guy who almost punched me in the face because he was an idiot who refused to pay attention in class" Chloe responded almost sarcastically.

"Oh well you'll get rotten people like that all the time, Christopher is sick again, he has a temperature, poor thing, he's been asking for you" Chloe's mother sighed.

"Is he up in his room?" Chloe questioned her mother.

Chloe's mother nodded, removing the cupcakes that she had been baking from the oven, Chloe wandered up the stairs to see her 9 year old brother.

"Hey, mum told me you weren't very well, is there anything I can do?" Chloe offered to her brother who was weak in appearance and very pale.

"Can I sleep in your bed tonight?" Christopher wondered.

Chloe chuckled and walked over to Christopher's bed, she combed her fingers through his soft auburn hair.

"I'll make it easier for you and stay in your bed instead" Chloe sighed and shook her head.

"Thanks" Christopher mumbled.

"I'll just go and finish my Maths homework and I'll join you" Chloe told her younger brother.

Christopher nodded and went back to sleep, Chloe walked back down the stairs she sat down at the table and asked her busy mother about Christopher's state.

"What's wrong with him?" Chloe wondered.

"The doctor says it's a bacterial infection, I can't pay for the course of antibiotics though" Chloe's mother informed her daughter.

"How much are they?" Chloe asked, getting her Maths books out.

"$250, I wish I could afford it but between paying the utility bills and paying for my car so I can go to work I can't afford it, and I just feel like I'm failing as a mother, if only your father was still here" Chloe's mother muttered.

"I have that money, I saved it up from my pay checks," Chloe reassured her mother "I'll just get it out from the ATM in town."

"Oh, thank you dear, I'll pay you back as soon as I can" Chloe's mother almost exhaled in relief to hear that she could pay for her younger son's treatment.

"Don't worry about it, all I want to see is Christopher getting better" Chloe sighed.

Chloe completed her Maths homework and walked down to the ATM and took out $250, she then walked back to her decrepit looking home. New Coventry was definitely her least favourite place. After she placed the money on the side she walked up the stairs and into Christopher's room, she climbed into his bed and fell asleep.

The next day Chloe woke up at 7:30 in the morning, she got ready for the day and had her breakfast, she walked down to the bus stop that would send her on her journey to school, she felt absolutely depressed about being there, she felt guilty for not being as rich as the other students, she steered very clear of the preps due to the fact that they now perceived her as an enemy and an easy target. However, today they had other plans.

"Say Bif, could you be so kind and drag that little sewer rat over here, please" Chloe overheard Derby command. The tall red headed boy who was guarding him nodded silently, he approached Amelia, grabbed her by the arm and dragged her over to Derby, he had a very strong grip so she couldn't escape.

"What do you want?" Chloe asked furiously, trying her hardest to escape Bif's grip, but knowing that if she tried too hard she'd dislocate her shoulder.

"I'm just wondering why you're still here, surely you only had enough money to attend for a day only" Derby sneered.

"No," Chloe sighed and she forcefully reclaimed her arm "I have a scholarship, you uneducated inbred spoilt bastard."

"What did you just call me?" Derby roared.

"I called you an uneducated inbred spoilt bastard," Chloe repeated "honestly for this standard of school you'd think you of all people would be a bit smarter."

"How dare you, you little cow" Derby spoke through gritted teeth "Bif, get her" he then ordered.

Chloe began to run, she had messed up entirely, the boy called Bif was chasing her and he was a lot quicker so if she was caught she was partially screwed, she ran behind the school and decided to hide in the gym locker rooms, if Bif was anything like Derby he wouldn't be bright enough to think that she'd be there. But she was wrong.

"Alright I'll try and make this as painless as possible if you just come out" Chloe heard Bif speak, she was terrified for her life right now so she closed her eyes and hoped that he would just get it over with.

"Ha found you, you little rat" Bif smirked and grabbed Chloe by the collar of her blouse.

"Just get it over with alright, I don't have all day" Chloe commented sarcastically which wasn't a clever move as Bif had struck her stomach with a solid punch. Bif had left Chloe on the floor quivering in fear and agony.

"Maybe that'll teach you to never cross us again" Bif laughed "god you're weak, that was me being nice."

Bif had vacated the locker room leaving Chloe in a crumpled heap, luckily her first lesson for the day was English a lesson she automatically enjoyed despite how much her stomach was aching, she walked to her English class and sat down in her seat, her stomach dropped when Bif, the prep she had a beating from earlier walked through the door, she almost started crying at the sight of him, she averted her eyes from his direction. The English teacher strolled in and wrote his name on the blackboard.

"Usually I wouldn't write my name out like this however I am aware we have a new student with us today, that's great news considering we're just about to start a literature analysis unit, come up to the front miss Gravett and introduce yourself to your peers" Mr Galloway beamed with joy.

Chloe's heart sank, she didn't want to have to introduce herself, she asked herself why the teachers couldn't just acknowledge that she was there and get on with their class like Mr Hattrick did. Chloe sighed as she walked to the front, she introduced herself and then returned to her seat.

"Right, in this new unit we shall be analysing Shakespeare, and I know it's boring to keep returning to Shakespeare at this point, but the exciting thing is we will be doing a bit of role play for the next two weeks isn't that exciting," Mr Galloway explained in an eager tone "I'll start handing the texts out and I'll put you into groups of three because it's fairer that way."

There was quite an audible groan from most of the class, but Chloe still remained intrigued, she didn't get to do much of this type of work at her old school due to its lack of funding.

"Chloe I'll put you with Parker and Bif, those two are nice and are actually passing this class" Mr Galloway chuckled and placed a copy of Romeo and Juliet down on Amelia's desk, Chloe then moved over to sit with a prep she had never seen before, he had black hair and light olive skin. She did however start to freak out when Bif sat down, her stomach began to ache again reminding her of the incident in the locker room.

"This is a mistake" Chloe mumbled quietly and she then flipped to the first page of the play.

"I second that" Parker muttered.

"Right, I want you to decide on a scene you want to perform at the end of the two weeks, make sure it has enough characters for everyone in your group, make sure you analyse the techniques used and symbolism in the scene you'll be studying because you'll be doing a practice essay on it" Mr Galloway instructed "I may let you go and practice around the school ground."

"Sir I thought this was an English class, not drama" Bif criticised Mr Galloway suddenly.

"I know I know, but it's the only way to get some of you to learn this text considering you will have to be writing essays on it, quoting the sources without having the text in front of you" Mr Galloway sighed in response to Bif's criticism "right for the next hour you're free to go and practice wherever you'd like."

Chloe stood up and led her group to a nice secluded part of the school where they could practice the scene they wanted to do.


	2. Grab 'Em By The Bullhorns

Please bear with me I'm trying out a new way of writing dialogue, it's taking a while to get used to for me at least, comment below if you think there are any mistakes since I'm rather hopeless at picking these things up.

* * *

The three weeks that Chloe had attended Bullworth almost seemed to have whizzed by without much of a thought. She was glossing over her biology textbook in the cafeteria when a screeching message over the pa rung out and drew her attention away from the previous knowledge she craved.

"In light of the football game happening tomorrow evening Mr Burton would like all students to gather in the gymnasium."

This voice obviously belonged to Miss Danvers, Chloe groaned and heaved herself from the seat where she resided before classes started.

"Hey skunk head, are ya ready for one of our good ol' famous Bullworth pep rallies?" Kirby Olsen asked.

"Kirby, I couldn't give less of a shit considering the fact that my mum won't let me come tomorrow and could you not call me skunk head, it's just a botched dye job and I'll be sorting it out next week" Chloe responded.

"Aw that's a shame, hey I'll save you and Liz a seat, see ya there skunk head."

"Kirby, I swear to God himself if you call me skunk head one more time."

The irritation in Chloe's voice was starting to show even after her friend walked off chuckling. She held her textbook close to her body and trudged to the gymnasium, she sighed when she climbed up the steps to greet Kirby and Elizabeth.

"Hey what's up?" Elizabeth questioned her friend's solemn mood.

"I don't know, I know it was a long time ago but I really miss my dad, I was only 7 when he died, and every time I bring it up my mum just screams at me to be quiet."

"Oh man, hey I know what'll cheer you up, why don't you come to cheerleading practice with me tonight we've got to practice before the big game, Mr Burton is going to be so happy seeing you there."

"Yeah that sounds nice, I'll come along to watch."

"What are you guys talkin' about?" Kirby butted in.

"Cheerleading practice" Elizabeth answered.

"You two are dweebs" Kirby scoffed.

"Says the literal fourteen-year-old hanging out with us" Chloe retorted with a raised eyebrow.

"I can't help it if you two hadn't have stepped in Ted would have flattened my ass" Kirby grumbled, "right I gotta bounce, Mr Burton probably wants me or something."

"Oh look, the capitalist pig actually has a father" Elizabeth commented.

Chloe gazed over at the man who sitting next to the headmaster, he looked like an older version of his son Derby, it freaked Chloe out with the resemblance he had to his son, he then caught sight of Chloe and his face dropped, she knew why he reacted like that, he had every right to be scared. He was the reason Chloe's father was no longer alive, she remembered him quite clearly from the funeral, he looked younger then, but she could never forget a face that was the root cause of her family's suffering.

"Liz, I need to go" Chloe muttered, she didn't want to be anywhere near the Harrington's so she exited the gymnasium with haste, she wanted to run straight back to the cafeteria however her path was interrupted by a prep, but not just any prep, it was Bif Taylor, seeing him made her flinch.

"Please don't hurt me" Chloe spoke in a fearful tone.

"Whoa, okay I'm not going to hurt you, I only did that just so Derby didn't hit me" Bif reassured Chloe.

"I've got to get out of here" Chloe sighed.

"What happened, if that mascot scared you I'm not surprised that thing still gives me the heebie-jeebies" Bif wondered and then shuddered.

"N-no no it's just I've had a bad experience involving Derby's family and seeing his dad just set me off" Chloe attempted to speak in a calm manner.

"Oh, well then come sit with me, Bryce and Parker, we're supposed to be on guard, but to be completely honest we just fuck about, it's not like Derby is here to smack us one when we aren't doing our jobs"

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Bif slowly led Chloe to the other preps who greeted her.

"Pep rally too boring?" Parker asked he was nonchalantly leaning back on his hands inspecting the game of chess he was playing with a quieter, snootier looking prep Bryce.

Bif responded for Chloe by lightly hitting Parker round the head. Chloe had to giggle, this, in turn, made Parker smile, his brown eyes gleaming in the autumn sun, Chloe was captivated by this.

"Your move" Bryce commented.

"Alright, ha you fool, you left your defences wide open for me to come and attack your king," Parker remarked, "I do believe that's checkmate and you owe me $50."

Bryce muttered angrily under his breath and he dug out his extremely lavish leather wallet, he took out a few notes and passed them to Parker who folded them and put them in his pocket.

Chloe had to laugh at the two boys and their business dealings, $50 was like spare change to them probably, Parker then whipped out his phone, he made dissatisfied noises when he realised he had no service.

"Ugh you can never get any bloody service around this dump" Parker groaned "right I'm going for a jog, I can't stay this still for this long."

"Wait how do you guys get away with having your phones?" Chloe seemed outraged.

"It's called having a Derby as a friend" Parker chuckled.

"Fair enough, right I think I'm going to head to Maths, you coming Parker?" Chloe sighed and then asked the prep, who shook his head.

Chloe forced herself to lessons, it was maths first which was a mood killer considering the fact that Mr Hattrick was stingy with his heating and never turned it on, even if half the class had hypothermia. Chloe settled down and got on with her work, it was a packet of worksheets full of questions, she thought the education at Bullworth was supposed to be enriching but she guessed not, she felt lonely at her desk, usually Parker did turn up to maths when he felt like it, but she figured he was having an off day, that fact was true until ten minutes into the lesson the prep turned up, pink-faced and panting.

"Could you explain to me why you are so late Mr Ogilvie" Mr Hattrick was not amused.

"I—I had a bit of trouble in the toilets..."

"Spare me the details and sit down."

Parker nodded silently and did what was ordered of him.

"What really happened?" Chloe asked.

"I got caught by a prefect, oh boy can those pricks run."

Chloe laughed to herself and continued with her work, she glanced over at Parker's work every so often and helped him with any questions he couldn't answer when Mr Hattrick wasn't looking of course. When the bell for lunch rang Chloe packed her equipment away and she walked to lunch mainly to find Elizabeth more than anything just to let her know that she wasn't going to stay after school. When Chloe did find her friend, she was surrounded by the cheerleading team.

"Lizzie, you can't hang out with that saddo all the time like it's so totally bumming you and us out" Mandy, the cheer captain groaned.

"Mandy you're making a big deal out of nothing, she's new and I want her to feel welcome" Elizabeth murmured.

"Uh oh Ethay ittlelay atfay owcay isway erehay" one of the cheerleaders whispered loudly, she received some very blank looks "ugh you guys don't know pig Latin? I just said the little fat cow is here, oh my god" she then explained herself a little bit too loudly for the rest of the cafeteria to hear.

"Chloe is not a fat cow what the hell is wrong with you" Elizabeth chimed out "I can't believe people who are supposed to boost morale bring others down, this isn't why I became a cheerleader."

"Well if you have a problem with how we act you're more than welcome to quit the team, it's not like we'd miss you or anything" Mandy sneered.

"Don't speak to my friend like that" Chloe attempted to defend Elizabeth, she did admit that it possibly wasn't the best idea considering that she was less athletic than most of the cheerleading team.

"Excuse you, a little wretch like you shouldn't even be here" Pinky spoke up.

"Oh, and little miss cousin fucker has an opinion on what's considered a decent enough standard for this school?" Chloe retorted in defence, the whole cafeteria went silent. She was well aware of the romantic arrangement between Derby and Pinky. Pinky's lip quivered and she broke down into tears.

"Shit Chloe why did you make her cry, Derby and his friends are gonna kill you" Elizabeth panicked.

Chloe stood her ground. Her heart raced. Her jaw was clenched. She felt a presence behind her.

"Oh, Elizabeth we won't just kill her, we'll make her regret being born in the first place" the sound of Derby's voice sent a chill through Chloe's body, he then went to console Pinky who was a blubbering mess at this point "Bif, Parker, politely show this trash why she should keep to herself."

"Chloe, run" Elizabeth instructed.

Chloe did just that, she ran. But it was no use, the two preps caught up with her.

"Guys please don't hurt me, I'm begging you" Chloe cried.

"I'm sorry Chloe, but if we don't Derby will kill us" Bif sighed.

"Well you know what screw what Derby says, I'm sick of him pushing me around like this, Chloe stuck up for herself and she had every right to do so" Parker grumbled.

The bell rang out for the next lesson, Chloe was saved from another beating. She had music, a lesson she also enjoyed as well as English, she did have musical talent as she taught herself how to play drums at a very early age, she had become proficient enough in that skill that she decided to start a band, her band mainly did covers of already existing songs but it was her own band and the fact that she created something like that still made her grin from ear to ear.

"Right everyone get out your books, we're going to study some more music theory, I also have an exciting announcement at the end of the lesson" Miss Peters called out in her sing-song voice.

Chloe got on with the work that was asked of her, she finished it on time with a few minutes to spare.

"Very good work Chloe, you have really good knowledge in music theory tell me do you play an instrument?"

"Yes, I taught myself how to play the drums, I'm actually in a band as well."

"Well I feel you're going to benefit from the announcement at the end of the lesson."

Chloe felt herself getting nervous, although she was in a band she had terrible performance anxiety and if she was forced to perform she would genuinely throw up, it had happened before in Chloe's old school in San Fierro she was asked to sing in front of the entire school and before she even got a single word out she projectile vomited all over the front row, which unluckily the principal, vice principal and school governor were sitting in, the principal never let it go and he made Chloe's life a living hell after that incident.

"Well my lovely little angels I'm pleased to announce that our annual talent showcase has crept up on us once again, and I would like some of you to enter, even if you don't make it past the first auditions in two weeks I'll still be very proud of you," Miss Peters addressed the entire class "Chloe I'd like you to stay behind though, the rest of you take a leaflet and go, it's the end of the day now."

Chloe felt her nervousness grow, she felt sick. She felt like she was going to be sick in fact.

"What did you want Miss?" Chloe wondered.

"Well, I just wanted to let you know that I'm automatically entering you, and if you don't show up for auditions, I will put you in detention for a year, I hope you haven't got stage fright."

"But Miss, I can't, the last time I was forced to perform in front of the whole school I projectile vomited into my principal's lap because I was so nervous."

"Chloe don't argue with me, I'm entering you and that's final, I trust you will be able to prepare something for the auditions, yes?"

Chloe nodded sadly, she then left the classroom. She walked to her locker and claimed her bag, she saw Pinky at her locker and she decided to do the mature thing and apologise for her seemingly nasty comment. She walked over to the prep.

"Pinky, look I'm sorry about what I said about you, I wasn't thinking, I was just angry that people were making fun of Liz" Chloe apologised.

"Well apology accepted, I was being rather horrible, I'm sorry too."

"Is that street rat giving you trouble, princess?" Derby asked when he walked over to the pair.

"No, she was just kindly apologising about lunch, surely this means you'll leave her alone now?" Pinky responded.

"We'll see, come on, I want to take you to dinner, to that little restaurant you like in the next town over" Derby chuckled, he then kissed Pinky tenderly which Chloe had to stifle a gag considering that they were cousins.


	3. Caffeine Adventure

Chloe sat on the bleachers at the football field, she watched the cheerleading teamwork through their routines, she was starving, as she just remembered that the commotion caused at lunch made her forget to eat. Suddenly she heard a loud crash and a pained yelp and then a person came tumbling down. Some members of the football team looked over at this event.

"I'm okay, I think, fuck, that hurt," it was Parker.

Chloe rushed over to help him.

"What on earth were you doing?" 

"I just slipped, I was walking down to see you and then it all went wrong from there." 

Chloe shook her head and helped the dishevelled prep to regain his balance. 

"Honestly you should be a little more careful, who knows you could have broken something."

Parker let out an exasperated sigh and he sat down next to Chloe, she was shivering due to the fact that it was starting to get colder now. Parker noticed this and took the scarf from around his neck and gave it to Chloe.

"It's not much but it'll help a little," Parker mumbled, "you do have your winter uniform, right, or do you have to buy it separately?" 

"No, I have it, I'll just start wearing it when it gets too-" Chloe was interrupted by her phone vibrating, she picked it up and saw that her mother was calling her "hang on I have to take this."

Chloe answered the call. 

"Chloe where are you, it's five o'clock, you should have been home by now, I'm getting worried," Chloe's mother certainly sounded like she was panicking. 

"I forgot to tell you that I was going to watch Liz practice, I meant to text you about it earlier but I was in a lesson."

"Oh well try and get home before eight, you have to watch Christopher since I'm doing a night shift tonight."

"Okay, oh mum is it alright if I come and watch the football game tomorrow night, my friend is playing and I kinda want to support him."

"Oh a friend is it, are you sure he's not a boyfriend you haven't told me about, you can go since I have a day off tomorrow, I may be able to come with you if you'd like." 

"No mum he's already with someone, he's like fourteen anyway, so it's a bit weird if he was dating me, and I'm still very much single, I plan to stay that way until I get into med school, and yes it'd be nice if you and Christopher could both come." 

Parker heard this comment, and he bit his lip, there was no denying that he had grown rather fond of Chloe, ever since she arrived at Bullworth he was enthralled by her existence, he was probably the only prep who didn't actually hate her, sure he was worried about there being a clash in their social classes if they did date and Derby would possibly end up kicking him out of Harrington House for dating someone who wasn't as wealthy as him but he didn't care, he liked her a lot. Chloe was possibly the only girl in his life he felt entirely sure about, he didn't feel weird talking to her, he didn't feel the need to have to buy her approval. He just felt comfortable enough to be himself around her.

"Hello, earth to Parker, are you still receiving?" Chloe snapped him back into reality. 

"Y-Yeah I'm just thinking about some stuff, hey here's an idea, since it's cold we should go and grab a coffee or something, I know a nice place in Old Bullworth Vale." 

"Are you sure, like are we actually friends because your little clique gives me mixed messages?" 

"Yeah, we're friends, don't tell Derby though, he'd snap my neck if he knew I was hanging out with you." 

"Alright, I'll tell Liz and then we can head off" Chloe seemed to smile with this comment. 

Parker watched as Chloe walked off, he sighed contently to himself. But his self-sabotaging thoughts started to creep in and fester, he thought he didn't deserve anyone like her, especially after he had been so horrible to kids who truly didn't deserve any of the awful stuff he did to them. He looked over at Chloe who was now laughing with her friend, it made him smile seeing her happy and amused. 

"Right, are you ready to go?" Parker asked when Chloe had returned. 

Chloe nodded, she picked up her bag and left the football field in haste, she was approached by Mr Burton, Parker was apprehensive as he knew how perverted and disgusting the gym teacher really was. He could see the middle-aged man was eyeing Chloe up and down. 

"Gravett, I was hoping I could catch up with you, I see that you're quite close with Elizabeth, and she suggested that I sign you up for cheerleading practice, we meet here every Monday and Thursday after school, you should consider coming along it might do you some good" Mr Burton chuckled. 

"Yeah I'll certainly come along, it looks fun" Chloe grinned. 

When Mr Burton walked back to the football field Parker groaned in disgust, this made Chloe turn around in confusion. 

"Chloe, you have no idea how much of a creep Mr Burton is, he literally just undressed you with his eyes right then,"

"I can handle myself if he tries anything I'll knock him straight to hell and make sure he doesn't touch girls again." 

"Alright, if you say so."

"Don't give me that look, I'll be fine, it's not like you're my personal security guard or anything."

The pair walked to a café in Old Bullworth Vale. 

"What time do you have to be home?" Parker wondered. 

"Before eight, it's alright we have enough time, but would it be possible to get our drinks to go because I'll probably get shouted at either way, plus I don't exactly want you coming to New Coventry, I don't want you to get beaten up." 

"Hey, I'll be alright, I box remember so it's not like I can't handle myself unless you're Jimmy, then I'm fucked, he's the one prick I can't beat." 

"Aw did Jimmy give you an owie you're still pissed about,"

"No, I-it's complicated and I don't want to talk about it."

"Who knew you were so sensitive," 

"Could you not mock me, I just had a bad fight that's all, right, what do you want?"

"I'll have a latte, oh and use this, it'll get you a discount," Chloe responded and then pulled out a colleague discount card, little did Parker know, Chloe actually worked at the café they were at and she got a very hefty discount on drinks. 

Parker slowly shook his head in amusement, he gave back the card, he knew it wouldn't work because it didn't belong to him, he ordered the drinks, Chloe waited patiently and tried to distract herself by going on her phone, she couldn't look Parker dead in the eye anymore, he made her feel weird, she couldn't possibly have feelings for him, it was completely irrational if she did, she barely even knew him and besides he didn't seem interested in her, he was just being friendly, she didn't believe that he owed her any form of romantic attraction so she was just going to wait for these feelings to go away and see if anything develops if not then she just gained a nice friend.

"Right, one latte, and one mocha, I think we can go now," 

"Yeah, let's go because I have something I need to talk to you about."

The pair started to walk back to New Coventry, it would take them about an hour but it was worth it if you have good company.

"Oh, okay, am I in trouble?"

"No, you're not in trouble, it's just I'm really freaking out, Miss Peters signed me up for this talent showcase thing and I'm so scared because I don't have any idea of what I want to do and I can't back out because she'll put me in detention, plus I don't want to projectile vomit on anyone because of my performance anxiety." 

"Ooh, well I can't help you with that one, I tend to keep to myself about these things, I don't do performances either."

"I kinda want to try singing again, but it's just choosing the right song to sing that's frustrating me."

"Well, what do you listen to the most?"

"Screamo mostly, but I guess I could find a folk song or something, I don't know," 

Parker nodded slowly, he grew fearful when they entered New Coventry. 

"Well, well, well, a little preppy strayin' a little far from his turf" A voice called out. 

Parker tensed up, he hated the greasers more than anything, even if he had done nothing to them he was always targeted. 

"Chloe, I have to go, you'll be alright getting home, won't you?" Parker asked in a fearful manner. 

Chloe nodded. With that Parker walked off back to school. 

"See I don't get what you see in him doll, you could do so much better with a real man" the voice did belong to someone, it was Johnny Vincent, head of the greaser clique, he came out of the shadows suddenly. 

"Sorry I don't date people who are walking fire hazards," Chloe rebutted attacking them where it hit the most, their hair. 

"Very funny doll, don't think we'll let you get away from this easily, you'll get what's comin' to ya' and there will be hell to pay."

"Whatcha thinkin' boss?" another greaser asked.

"Rough her up a bit I need a smoke" Johnny instructed.

"Sure thing boss" the same greaser laughed.

"Oh no, you touch me, and you'll end up in the hospital" Chloe threatened. 

Chloe did the only thing that seemed smart enough, she escaped. It didn't take long for her to reach her home, the greasers were chasing her, holding various weapons, she reached for her keys but it was too late, she was grabbed and dragged off to an alleyway. The greasers held her in a tight grip as she was punched and kicked, when they were done with her they let her fall to the ground, Johnny grabbed Chloe by her hair and forced her to meet his gaze. 

"That should do it, get home safe" Johnny cackled and left Chloe in a heap on the floor, she was going to throw up.

Chloe couldn't move, she felt too weak to move. 

"Where the fuck is she?" She heard an angry and familiar voice ask, it was Bif, Parker must have sent him. 

"B-Bif, I'm-" Chloe whimpered, she wasn't loud enough. 

"Alright alright, she's in the alleyway, jus' don't hurt me," Johnny begged.

A searing headache from being beaten up was starting to set in, Chloe weakly stood up, her legs shaking, she used the wall beside her to rebalance herself, she then stumbled out of the alleyway, the red-head rushed over to her and helped her. 

"What the fuck have they done to you?" Bif questioned her out of anger and fear. 

Chloe couldn't answer, she started crying and she hugged the red-headed prep, Bif overlooked the fact that she was getting blood on his very expensive sweater. 

"T-thank y-you" Chloe whispered. 

"Parker told me, he's a coward if he can't take on those grease-bags, I'm just glad I found you, a little late albeit but you're safe now, we need to get you to a hospital." 

"Shit no, I can't, I can't afford it" Chloe panicked "just take me home I'll get my mum to fix me up."

Bif sighed and he almost had to carry Chloe home, when they reached her house she shakily unlocked the door, Bif helped her to the kitchen Chloe's mother looked up from the washing up she was doing, and she dropped the glass she was drying, she screamed. 

"Chloe what happened, who did this to you, if it's that boy you told me about I'll-" Chloe's mother spoke, she then looked over at Bif "do you know who did this?"

"It was those kids down the road, mum" Chloe answered, "they go to our school."


	4. Oh No He’s Hot!!

Chloe was excused from lessons the next day, she hid in the library during the school day, she didn’t want anyone to see her, she kept her head down and her hood on, even if Mrs Carvin, the librarian gave her a funny look. She flicked through her textbooks and finished the classwork she was meant to do, she was disturbed by someone a little while later. A certain dark-haired prep who had abandoned her when she was being beaten up by the greasers.

“I thought I would find you here.”

Chloe didn’t respond, she was angry.

“Look, I see why you’re angry Bif told me, I’m sorry, I sent him because he’s a lot tougher than me.”

“Parker, I don’t have time for your excuses, I have a fucked-up face now because you were too much of a coward to help me fight off those greasers, I mean look at me, I have 10 stitches all over my body and face combined!”

Chloe pulled her hood off in rage, to reveal how bad her injuries were, she had a split lip, a black eye, multiple cuts and scrapes all over her legs. 

“What seems to be the problem here Mrs Carvin?” Chloe heard a prefect ask. 

The elderly librarian whispered things to the prefect and the prefect walked over to Chloe and Parker. 

“I’m sorry but you two are being too loud, you’re in the library to study and complete your lessons as requested by your mother, if you can’t be civil here then I will send you back to class” the prefect explained. 

“Don’t bother I’m going back to class anyway” Chloe snapped, not realising the tone she was using. 

“Chloe Gravett that’s a detention for talking back to a prefect” the prefect tutted and started writing out a detention slip, the prefect handed the detention slip to Chloe who then stormed off to shop class, her stomach dropped when she saw Johnny Vincent again. She knocked on the classroom door and half the class and Neil, the shop teacher had looked up at Chloe, who was clutching her arm in agony, she had walked in during the middle of class. 

“Chloe what are you doing here, I thought it was okay for you to ditch my class for today” Neil was confused. 

“I was sent back because of an issue in the library” Chloe explained with a smile. 

“Alright but take it easy, you can work with Kirby, alright you shits cut the crap and get back to work” Neil instructed and then barked to the rest of the class. 

“Are you okay?” Kirby wondered noticing his friend’s injuries.

“Yeah, I’ll be alright, I’m just in pain that’s all, I’ve had god knows how many Vicodin pills to stop the pain but it’s just making me drowsy and the preps are still giving me grief, I just want to hide from the world.” 

“Jesus, you should probably go to the infirmary, they might just let you go home early if you beg hard enough.”

“I don’t want to go home though, I wanted to come and watch the game, for your sake at least.” 

“Chloe if you’re really hurt then you can’t go tonight, god knows what the cold will do to you.”

Chloe nodded, she then saw that Kirby was going out of focus, she was seeing doubles and could hardly concentrate, when Kirby asked for a spanner she could barely hear him, there was a ringing in her ears that was growing louder and louder until it all went black, when she came to, she saw Kirby, Neil and Johnny Vincent standing over her. 

“Wha—what happened?” Chloe murmured. 

“Chloe just relax and try and stay still, the school nurse should be coming, you passed out” Neil answered, “I’ve never had someone faint on me before, must be my dashing good looks.”

Chloe uncomfortably laughed. 

“There we go, you bumped your head pretty badly, glad to know you can still laugh” Neil chuckled. 

The school nurse entered the room, she knelt down to attend to Chloe, she helped her to sit up.

“Her blood pressure and pulse seem to be normal for fainting patients, have you eaten today” The school nurse questioned Chloe. 

Chloe nodded her head with all the strength she had.

“Hmm, you have suffered some previous trauma, I think it’s best if you go home, rest up over the weekend and start again on Monday.”

“B—but, I’m fine,”

“No buts, I’ll call your mother.”

Kirby and Johnny helped Chloe walk to the front gates where her mother was waiting, she was very displeased that Johnny was sent to help especially after his gang had put her in this condition.

“You can go you know” Chloe spoke through gritted teeth to Johnny “especially since it’s your fault I’m like this.”

Johnny decided it was probably a good idea to not help Chloe as she was getting angrier and angrier with him being there. Kirby eventually helped Chloe back to her mother’s car and he handed back her bag, which he was ever so kindly carrying for her, so she could focus on staying upright. 

“I told you, you shouldn’t have gone to school today” Chloe’s mother tutted and opened the passenger door.

“It’s a waste of my scholarship if I keep having to miss school” Chloe argued.

Chloe’s mother rolled her eyes and sighed and then closed the door after her daughter climbed in, she reclaimed the bag Kirby was holding and placed it on the backseat. She gestured a thank you to Kirby. 

Chloe’s mother drove home. She kept eerily quiet. There was something bothering her, and Chloe decided to find out what it was.

“What’s wrong?” Chloe wondered.

“Your father had secret bank accounts I’ve only just found out about, he kept thousands of dollars locked away from us for all these years and I only just discovered it, I just can’t believe it, if we had this money from the beginning we wouldn’t be struggling.” 

“You mean, we can actually afford a decent lifestyle now?”

Chloe’s mother’s lip trembled, she started crying with joy and nodded.

“I can actually afford for you and Christopher to have a decent education and keep our rent and food paid for years with lots left over.”

“Mum that’s amazing,” 

After they arrived home Chloe changed out of her uniform and into her pyjamas, she then went to bed, she hated the last day of the week because it meant that she had to deal with weekends. Weekends were usually when she and her father usually went to the cinema or a long drive, she liked those moments she shared with her father, but those moments slowly started to become rarer after her younger brother Christopher was born, and then when it was a week before Christopher was due to turn one her family received the news of her father’s passing. Countless investigators, coroners and morgue attendants had deemed his death an accident, his body was burnt badly due to the explosion at the oil rig he was working at and Chloe’s mother refused to believe that he was the only one who had been killed. It was then Chloe realised the permanence of death, every time she thought about it, it would bring tears to her eyes and she would go completely silent for days even weeks on end. When the sun lightly caressed her skin as it entered it disturbed her from her slumber. She had laid there for half an hour before she decided to get up. She knocked on Christopher’s bedroom door to wake him up.

“Hey Christopher, I’m making breakfast, do you want some cereal?” Chloe asked her younger brother.

Christopher nodded quietly.

Chloe walked downstairs to make cereal for the two of them, when she opened the cupboard she was shocked to find that it was full, there was a post-it-note that read: ‘I went shopping now that we have some money lying around.’

Chloe smiled to herself and picked the half empty Rice Krispies box out of the cupboard. She poured out enough for two bowls. Chloe then used her waitressing skills to carry the two bowls upstairs and she entered Christopher’s room and gave her younger brother his breakfast. Chloe sat down on Christopher’s bed and ate her breakfast quietly. After she was done she went to check her schedule for work, she had to do a shift the next day, from eight in the morning to three in the afternoon. She did enjoy working at the coffee shop in Old Bullworth Vale, it gave a change of scenery to the grimy and unsafe conditions of New Coventry. Chloe thought it was best to finally prepare a song for her audition, so she looked through her mother’s CD collection to find something, she found a CD by a band called Paramore, which shocked Chloe a little bit due to the fact that she never saw her own mother as someone who’d listen to Paramore. She decided against singing a Paramore song because it was a bit too much to handle especially considering she was too nervous to even sing in the first place. So she decided to sing something from her mother’s favourite movie, Footloose.

The next day seemed to go by slowly, she grew fearful when a platinum blonde prep walked through the door of the café, she had to get someone else to serve him as she was too scared to talk to him. 

“Excuse me, aren’t you from my school?” Derby asked in a snide tone when he noticed Chloe sweeping the floors. 

“What do you want?” Chloe questioned the prep. 

Derby purposely dropped his used napkins on the floor. 

“You missed a spot, Chloe” Derby cackled and then left the café with his drink in hand. 

Chloe sighed to herself angrily and picked up the litter on the floor. When she clocked out of work she took a few unsold pastries home to treat her mother. She passed the Glass Jaw boxing gym, she saw Bif leave the building, he was locking the doors and he turned around and spotted Chloe, who instantly felt sick, she didn’t want to deal with any of the preps especially on a Sunday.

“Chloe, how are you, I heard that you went home early on Friday, are you doing okay?” Bif wondered about Chloe’s physical state. 

“I’m fine, I’m doing a whole lot better than I was on Thursday,”

“That’s good to hear, hey I can walk you home if you want, unlike someone we shouldn’t mention I can actually fight off the greasers.”

“Thank you but it won’t be necessary, I can handle myself, I just had bad luck.”

“Well I need to go to New Coventry anyway, so I’m walking you home whether you want me to or not.” 

Chloe sighed and then laughed, she accepted Bif’s offer, she noticed how nice he looked when he wasn’t wearing Bullworth’s cruddy school uniform, for a seventeen year old he looked like he looked after his body well, she couldn’t help but admire him, she shook her head and returned to looking at the ground, there wasn’t any denying that Bif was probably one of the attractive preps at her school, she couldn’t fall for him though, he did beat her up on her second day so she had a lot to fear about him. Her feelings were conflicted, on one hand Parker intrigued her and was very supportive of her, but on the other Bif was fearless and protective, which meant if someone hurt you he’d have to have some words. When Bif and Chloe reached their destination, Chloe stopped herself before letting herself in. 

“Do you want a drink or anything, my mum says that she kinda owes you after you rescued me.”

“You know what, tea sounds kinda great right now.”

Chloe grinned at his positive response and she invited him in. 

“Mum is it alright if my friend can have a cup of tea, he walked me home and you said you owed him for rescuing me” Chloe reminded her mother of her promise to the red-head.

“Yes that’s perfectly okay” Chloe’s mother responded with a smile.


	5. Cheer Practice

“Chloe, you’re trying out for cheerleading?” Elizabeth asked when she saw Chloe had turned up on Monday.

“Yeah, weren’t you the one who told Mr Burton that I should do it?”

Elizabeth shook her head.

“I never told him that, oh no.”

“Liz, what’s wrong?”

“It’s just Mr Burton is a bit of a perv, I don’t want him hurting you.”

Suddenly a jock ran past and slapped Elizabeth’s behind.

“Oh, fuck off Ted!” Elizabeth shouted.

“Nah I’d rather fuck you” the jock named Ted smirked and then winked, he then got back to jogging laps around the football field.

Chloe looked over at Elizabeth and gave her a ‘do I need to kick his ass for you’ look. Elizabeth shook her head.

“He’s such a tool” Elizabeth grumbled.

“Just ignore him, fuckboys like him don’t deserve a minute of your precious time.”

“I know, but it’s kinda hard to when he’s in all of my classes, and just constantly tries to hit on me, I’ve tried everything to scare him off, in biology when I was dissecting a rat, he kept bugging me and I told him that he’d be next if he wasn’t careful and he still wouldn’t leave me alone, Dr Slawter laughed when I said that though and told Ted that he’d better listen.”

When Mandy turned up for practice she groaned when she saw Chloe, she had to make the decision about whether Chloe would make it on to the team, and out of spite for the incident that happened in the cafeteria, she decided to reject Chloe, which obviously made Mr Burton visibly annoyed. Chloe brushed it off though, it wasn’t the end of the world if she didn’t get into the team, but it seemed that way for Mr Burton. Elizabeth tried to console her.

“Chloe that was a great routine, it sucks that Mandy is just bitter if I was the head cheerleader I’d totally make you part of the team.”

“Liz it’s fine, I’ll get over it and try again next month, I mean I’m not going to lie but I really don’t want to do cheerleading, especially if Mr Burton is trying to force me to do it.”

“Speak of the devil,”

“You are a conniving little shit, you did that on purpose!” Mr Burton screamed at Chloe.

“Okay, but you shouldn’t even be teaching here, considering how much of a pervert you are,” Chloe answered back confidently “I know about what happened with you and Zoe, don’t think that’s going to work on me.”

“How dare you accuse me of that, right, that’s it, you’re coming with me, you can run laps with the football team!” Mr Burton shouted, and he grabbed Chloe by the wrist and forced her to run laps with the rest of the jocks, Kirby slowed his pace, so he could keep his friend company.

“What happened?” Kirby asked gently.

“I didn’t get into the cheer team so Burton is punishing me for something Mandy decided, it’s not fair, I didn’t ask for this,”

“Are you now beginning to see why everyone who goes here genuinely hates this school?”

Chloe nodded silently, she could feel her chest burning, at her old school she used to be their track and field star. However, it had been some years since she was allowed to compete due to her many ankle injuries and her love for sports had faded after her father passed away. After around half an hour Mr Burton had left the football field and he had told the team and Chloe to have a break, that’s when it happened, Chloe was assaulted with eggs but luckily all of them had missed, she saw out of the corner of her eye that it was Parker and Gord, they had a carton of eggs between them. Kirby leapt into a fighting stance instantly ready to defend his friend's honour.

"Right you inbred jerks who wants a poundcake!" Kirby snapped.

"And what are you going to do to us short stack?" Gord asked mockingly.

"I'll fucking beat you to hell, I mean it's not like it will affect you though Gord, you'd probably get turned on by it!" Kirby shouted in response.

Gord's face flushed with colour. The prep was quite obviously biting back anger, trying his hardest to appear like the jock's apparent insult wasn't true.

"Good luck with that one, old chap, you can't even reach our faces!" Gord snarled.

"Didn't say I was gonna go near you, did I?" Kirby smirked and picked up the football from the bench next to him, Chloe put two and two together and it didn’t take long to see what Kirby was planning. And then it all unfolded from there, Kirby swung his throwing arm and let the football fly from his hand, heading straight for the prep's face, this caused Gord to fly back into the seats on the bleachers, when Parker helped him to stand up Chloe could see that the prep’s nose was bleeding, he was spluttering with rage.

"I'll kill you for this, you, you faggot!" Gord screeched, his sophisticated accent slipping, everyone including Parker gasped at Gord’s sudden outburst and use of a derogatory term.

Kirby, however, was unaffected by this, he had faced words and insults like that many times before. Kirby did nothing but laugh it off.

“Gord, what the fuck?” Parker questioned his friend.

"Yeah, Gord what the hell, we get that you're mad at Kirby for schoolin' you but there's no need to call him that" Ted spoke up about Gord's outburst.

Mr Burton caught wind of this incident and everyone froze in terror as the gym teacher was getting angrier and angrier.

"You shits are supposed to be training, not breaking each other, Chloe just go home, seeing as being around a sack of useless fucks isn't a good influence on you" Mr Burton ordered.

Chloe nodded and grabbed her bag and started to walk out of Bullworth’s illustrious campus to get home, she was fearing the walk home now that the greasers viewed her as a permanent target, she wanted the bodyguard-like protection that Bif provided, she didn’t feel safe where she lived anymore and she hated it. Chloe always wondered what it was like to live in the nice houses in Old Bullworth Vale free from harm and safe. She regretted not asking for Bif’s number when he was around her house last week, it was eating her up inside knowing that she didn’t get that information from him. Her phone vibrated in her pocket, it was a text from her mother, asking where she was.

_‘I’m walking home now, I’ll see you when I get there xx’ – 4:30_

“Ah dollface, it’s so nice to see you again” Johnny Vincent chuckled, he was leaning against the brick wall under the bridge of the border to New Coventry.

“What do you want?” Chloe asked impatiently.

“That ain’t no way to speak to a friend.”

“We’re not friends, friends don’t order their little sidekicks to hurt their other friends,”

“Feisty aren’t we, where’s your little preppy boyfriend, he usually likes beating the shit out of us just for you, it’s true, you should ask him, seeing you in trouble turns him on like crazy, ain’t it funny what a girl can do to you.”

Chloe’s cheeks reddened at the greaser’s comment, she didn’t see Bif like that and god forbid Bif thought of her that way.

“Bif isn’t my boyfriend, what is your problem?”

“Well seeing as you’re a single lady, I was thinking you wouldn’t mind me doing this.”

Johnny leaned in closely, his warm smoky breath tingled on Chloe’s neck and made her cringe and before Johnny could do anything so remotely as even kiss her, she had kneed him in the groin and punched him to the floor, she then kicked him in the stomach repeatedly and watched as his writhing body retched and vomited.

“Don’t you fucking dare touch me like that again!”

Chloe was shaking, adrenaline was coursing through her veins, she had managed to fend off Johnny Vincent’s perverted attack and she was glad that she did, he was around nineteen due to him being held back a year at Bullworth for his poor grades, it was disgusting that he tried to take advantage of her like that.

“Jesus…doll…I was just showin’ you what a real man is like…”

“A real man?” Chloe scoffed “you’re more like a man-child, a real man doesn’t take advantage of seemingly vulnerable girls on the street, go choke on your own vomit because I am not interested.”

Chloe began to walk away, only turning back to still see the greaser on the floor in agony.

“Oh, and as far as you’re concerned you were lucky I didn’t have Bif with me because he wouldn’t have been so nice to you.”

“Just walk away slut, there are much better and prettier girls than you anyway!” Johnny shouted in response.

Chloe stuck up her middle finger at Johnny, she didn’t care about the insults that he hurled at her, she was used to it from her old school. When she reached her home, she ran upstairs to her bedroom, she collapsed on her bed and began to cry into her pillow, the adrenaline had finally worn off. Chloe picked up the sound of a door opening downstairs, she then heard footsteps and her door opening.

“Chloe, honey, what’s wrong, did something happen at school?” Chloe’s mother asked quietly.

Chloe sat up properly to talk to her mother.

“N-no, well sorta, one of those weird greaser kids just tried to sexually assault me, and I fought him off, but I’m just having a mood crash from the adrenaline spike,” Chloe explained, drying her eyes with the sleeves of her sweater “and at school I tried out for the cheerleading team and I didn’t get in, and I was forced to run laps around the football field because of it.”

“Oh pumpkin, it’s alright, you’ve just had a bad day, all you can do is shake it off, and I’m so proud of you, never forget that,” Chloe’s mother sighed and comforted her daughter “I bought ice cream and rented a movie, do you want to sit down and watch it with me?”

Chloe shook her head.

“I think I want to be alone for a while, I’ll see what I’m like after I’ve finished my homework.”

“Alright, I’ll bring your dinner up, give me a shout if you need anything else.”

Chloe’s mother then tapped her daughter on the nose which made the sixteen-year-old giggle. She left her daughter alone as per her request. Chloe then sat down at her desk to complete her homework, it was questions about different locations, geography was Chloe’s least favourite subject and she found herself almost falling asleep due to Mr Matthews’ constant droning. It was surprising that Bif even managed to put up with her almost falling asleep on him in Geography, he didn’t mind it of course but he found it amusing that she found his arm to be ‘comfy like a pillow.’ A knock on her door jolted her from her concentration, her mother had returned but with a plate, it was a slice of her homemade chicken pie with salad.

“Your chicken pie, we haven’t had that since…” Chloe trailed off as she felt tears brim her eyes, she couldn’t stop thinking about her father, although it happened nine years prior it still upset her due to the fact that her father wasn’t able to be there for important life events like her winning a first place medal in her cross country finals when she was fourteen.

“I know, I just wanted to make it as a treat for how well you’ve managed to settle in here, I was thinking that maybe in the holidays we could take a trip to San Fierro, so you can see your old friends again,” Chloe’s mother explained “and your band, they’re missing you, Devin and Jamie wanted to come up here so you could do a gig together for old times' sake.”

Chloe smiled at the idea of being able to see her old friends again, she wanted to know how San Fierro was doing after she had to leave so abruptly last year.


	6. Rumours

When Chloe returned to school the next day her peers were acting strangely, they were whispering things whenever she went near them. 

"I heard she's a huge slut, like have you seen her hang out with those preps, no doubt she's probably slept with all of them by now" Christy Martin, another one of the cheerleaders was whispering things to Mandy.

Chloe was curious about who they were talking about.

"No doubt, I mean I feel so sorry for Johnny he probably has an std now thanks to her" Mandy responded. 

Chloe deduced that they must have been talking about Lola, so she went on her merry way to her locker, when she got to it she saw the words 'slut' and 'whore' had been spray painted on the door. She was taken aback by this and thought that it was probably a stupid prank and that the person responsible had targeted the wrong person, so she opened the door and found a note. 

_'Hey, Chloe,_

_Do yourself and everyone a favour and kill yourself, no one would miss a slut like you.'_

It had no sender, so she screwed the note up, she placed her bag inside her locker. Suddenly she was grabbed and turned around, she saw Lola standing in front of her.

"You little whore, you think taking my man is funny, do you?" Lola practically screamed at Chloe.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about" Chloe stuttered in fear. 

"You bitch!" Lola shouted and then slapped Chloe.

Chloe recoiled in fear, she clutched her cheek as Lola walked off, Derby and Bif walked past Chloe on their way to lessons. 

"Bif I told you she was bad news, befriending that cheap little harlot will ruin our reputation even further" Derby chuckled. 

Bif averted his eye contact from Chloe who could see how ashamed he was, he then noticed that Derby had started walking away so he hurriedly walked off to catch up with him. Miss Danvers spoke over the PA summoning Chloe to Dr Crabblesnitch's study, this, of course, made her stomach drop in fear. Chloe climbed the staircase to see the headmaster of the school and she was shocked when she saw her mother was there too.

"Ah Miss Gravett, please take a seat" Dr Crabblesnitch instructed. 

Chloe did as she was told and sat down in one of the chairs in front of the headmaster's desk. 

"Am I in trouble?" Chloe asked politely. 

"Not in the slightest, I just wanted to check up on you, I've been hearing some very nasty rumours about you and one of our fellow 'students' and I use that word loosely as he's never in class half the time" Dr Crabblesnitch responded.

"Yes, everyone thinks I've had relations with Johnny Vincent even though that's completely false especially after he almost tried to sexually assault me yesterday evening" Chloe defended herself. 

"Chloe, if you truly don't feel safe here I can go back to getting you homeschooled" Chloe's mother suggested. 

"No, I like it here, it's way more interesting than my old school, I have friends here" Chloe interjected, she didn't want to leave Bullworth Academy. 

"I know you like it here honey, but I'm just worried about you."

Chloe huffed and slumped back in the chair she was sitting on.

"Chloe don't do that, that's extremely immature." 

When the bell rung for lessons Chloe left the headmaster's study and went to maths, she couldn't get a moment of peace in her lessons, she had various objects thrown at her, screwed up bits of paper, pens, the lot. One of the jocks stood up from his seat. 

"Hey slut, you'll need a textbook!" the jock called out and threw his textbook at Chloe, Mr Hattrick wasn't in the room to see this, after the heavy book hit her she placed her head on the desk, she felt sick, but suddenly she felt a burning rage grow inside her stomach, this was Johnny's fault, so she angrily left her seat and walked out of the classroom, she walked with purpose down to the auto shop where Johnny and his boys would be. She spotted the greaser in question. 

"Johnny look it's Chloe" Peanut called out, getting his leader's attention. 

"Hey, doll, what are you doing, shit Chloe no-" Johnny yelped as Chloe threw a spanner at him, luckily for Johnny, it missed him and clanged on contact with the wall. 

"You ruined everything!" Chloe screamed, "wasn't me kicking your ass yesterday enough because I can do a whole lot worse."

Chloe launched herself at the greaser ready to strike him, but she was held back by a pair of strong arms. Some of the preps heard the commotion going down in the auto shop and had come to see what was going on. It was Bif who was holding her back from hurting Johnny, he then wrapped his arms around her stomach and picked her up, ignoring the girl's attempt at flailing and kicking so she could escape. Bif carried her to the football field and he ducked behind the bleachers, placing Chloe down. He did this, so she could calm down. 

"Chloe just breathe, alright, I'm not supposed to be talking to you, but you really need to calm down" Bif spoke quietly, placing his hands on Chloe's shoulders. 

"You're telling me to calm down, are you shitting me?" Chloe snapped her question at the red-head. 

"Look I know you're upset but reacting like this will just make it worse, I should know from experience, why don't you just hang out with me and ditch class, it's stressing you out being here."

"No shit, Sherlock."

Bif rolled his eyes amusingly. Chloe let herself slide down the wall into a seated position and she began to cry, she hated the way she had been treated, she didn't understand why Johnny had decided to screw her over like this. Bif sat down next to the crying girl and he rubbed her back in circular motions.

"I just think you need to sit here quietly for a minute and have a breather."

Chloe sniffed, and she cuddled up to the prep in order to find some comfort. Bif didn't complain, in fact he rather liked Chloe's presence, and it was quite nice that she almost trusted him again especially after what he did to her on her second day at Bullworth, he noticed that Chloe was growing drowsy after her breakdown, so he let her lay her head down in his lap, so she could sleep. It was awkward at first because they were just friends, but he eventually rolled with it, he placed his hand down gently on Chloe's head, patting her to reassure her. After around half an hour Chloe woke up, she realised what she was doing, and she freaked out, she had overstepped Bif's boundaries, her cheeks flushed with colour.

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to do that" Chloe panicked. 

"Hey no, it's perfectly fine." 

Chloe felt ashamed for what she had done to the prep but at the same time she found it her guilty pleasure to cuddle up against him, her cheeks felt warm still. 

"I didn't sleep with him if that's what you were thinking, I wouldn't sleep with a guy like Johnny."

Bif sighed, there was no hiding the fact that he believed those rumours, he knew it was beneath him to give into gossip and lies but he couldn't resist it as it made him popular amongst the preppies and he felt like he had a use other than being a bodyguard.

"You two should be in class!" A prefect shouted when he caught the teens.

"Chloe, run, dammit its Seth, I'll handle him, I don't think you can handle a beating from him" Bif told Chloe.

Chloe did as the prep instructed and she began to run to get away from the prefects, it was all going smoothly until she felt herself being strangled by her blouse, the prefect had caught up with her, he then tackled her to the ground, what happened next all seemed to be a blur of colour. The next thing she remembered was the headmaster's study. She saw Johnny out of the corner of her eye. Bif was sitting in the chair next to her holding a tissue to his nose to stop it from bleeding.

"Truancy and attempted sexual assault on another member of this school will not be tolerated, Mr Vincent, Miss Gravett throwing a spanner ,which, might I remind you is school property, at someone with intent to harm can be classified as a crime, but seeing as you had your reasons I will not look into it any further as long as you don't do it again, and as for you Mr Taylor, I'm afraid this is your very last warning, physically harming a prefect is abhorrent behaviour, even for you," Dr Crabblesnitch sighed, "Do you honestly think this sort of behaviour is acceptable at this school, well do you?"

"No, sir" the three of them answered in unison. 

Suddenly a stern looking man stormed into the headmaster's study.

"Bif what the fuck do you think you're playing at!" The man barked suddenly at the red-head "you made me leave in the middle of dealing with a client to deal with your bullshit."

Johnny and Chloe both concluded that this was Bif's father. 

"Dad please I just-" Bif barely even got to finish his sentence.

"Oh no you don't, I have half the mind to pull you out of this school and send you somewhere where they won't treat you as nicely," Bif's father interjected suddenly "now Dr Crabblesnitch care to explain to me why my son is being told off."

"Sir, it was my fault, I was getting really stressed out about something and your son was trying to help me to calm down, so we decided to cut class" Chloe explained, Dr Crabblesnitch hardly even got to open his mouth.

Bif was making gestures with his hand that meant 'shut up' and 'stop talking.'

Bif's father glared at Chloe, he approached her, Chloe could really see where Bif got his height from.

"So, a slag is the reason why my son is in trouble, no surprise there" Bif's father tutted.

"Right you two you're free to go, keep to yourselves this time" Dr Crabblesnitch instructed.

Johnny and Chloe left the headmaster's study and the door was abruptly shut, Chloe hung back and she could hear audible shouting, after what seemed like 10 minutes Bif stormed out of the study, he saw Chloe and scowled at her.

"Thanks for nothing, now I'm grounded because of you, I hope you're happy" Bif snapped at Chloe.

His father left afterwards, he spotted Chloe.

"You have gotten him into a lot of trouble, you're lucky I've decided not to sue for damages because by the looks of it you probably couldn't afford it, if I were you I'd keep to yourself next time, I don't want to see my boy with the likes of you ever again" Bif's father snarled.

Chloe huffed and walked off, she definitely didn't want to consult with the likes of Bif's father or any preppies parents for that matter, she found it disgusting that richer people spoke to her like that, considering that they're the ones who are usually the ones leading by example, she bumped into Mandy in the halls, the cheerleader smirked and saw this as an opportunity to cause a fight.

"So, err Chloe what was he like?" Mandy asked mischievously.

"I have no clue what you're talking about" Chloe responded

"Oh, you know what I'm talking about, I'm talking about you and Johnny" Mandy giggled.

"There is no me and Johnny, it never happened, and it never will and besides he's nineteen it's kinda gross."

Mandy huffed, she couldn't instigate a fight, especially not with Chloe anyway, every smart remark she had Chloe could eloquently answer back in a way that seemed to fix everything. But she had an idea to ruin that. 

"Hey Lola, Chloe thinks your man is bad in bed" Mandy called over to Lola who was at her locker getting her books out.

"Mandy stop trying to beat a dead horse, Johnny told me, nothing happened" Lola complained.

Mandy stomped her foot and walked off. Her plan had failed.


	7. The Bombshell

Chloe sighed quietly to herself in maths, she was alone, Parker has moved seats to the corner of the room, when her lesson ended she drifted slowly out of the room, her time at school amalgamated into a blur, she no longer cared for the things she usually enjoyed, she hadn't yet managed to talk Miss Peters out of forcing her to perform and it was making her anxiety levels sky rocket every time she approached the music teacher. After school Chloe walked down to the football field to watch the cheerleading team practice, she spotted Parker who was being really friendly with Elizabeth. Chloe remembered that she still had Parker’s scarf in her bag. 

“Chloe, what are you doing here?” Elizabeth asked. 

“Returning this idiot’s scarf” Chloe answered in a deadpan voice, she threw the scarf back at the prep. She then walked away, Kirby had no time for her anymore due to football practice so she felt truly alone. She walked past Bryce and Gord who were talking about whatever snobbish topics they had chosen to discuss. 

“Hey gorgeous, why don’t you give me a smile,” Gord chuckled when he saw Chloe “don’t ignore me baby, whatever, you’re too fat anyway.”

Chloe broke down into tears, and it wasn’t because of what Gord had said, it was because she felt exhausted having to go to school where she was tossed aside because people had found replacements for her. Chloe gripped her bag straps as she walked home, ignoring the few greasers who tried to torment her, the rest were all scared after the spanner incident with Johnny. When she got home the house was empty, the note on the fridge stated that Christopher had gone to a friend’s house for the weekend and that their mother was at work doing a nursing residency until Saturday evening. Chloe sat down at the kitchen table, she was shaking due it being cold, but she decided to do something productive and get on with her homework. She made herself something to eat and then went to bed. Chloe’s weekend was boring to say the least, she didn’t have work so she decided that going for a jog would help clear her head, she got changed into something she could run in, she made it her goal to jog all the way to the Vale and back, she got too engrossed in her exercise that she jogged straight into Derby. Chloe’s stomach dropped. 

“Watch it you sewer rat!” Derby barked.

“Sorry” Chloe muttered an apology. 

“You better be sorry, my father would sue you in a heartbeat” Derby hissed.

“Derby I wouldn’t sue her in a heartbeat, she just ran into you by accident, I’m sure she…” Derby’s father spoke up and then trailed off when he came to take a closer look at who had bumped into his son “get away from her Derby.”

“Why?” Derby asked. 

“Because I said so!” Derby’s father snapped.

“You know what you did, murderer” Chloe growled at the ageing man, she jogged off after that. As she jogged through the vale her thoughts were dragged back to the talent showcase, she decided to change her mind about the song she wanted to perform, as much as she and her mother loved Kenny Loggins she felt that Footloose was too fast especially in an anxiety inducing situation such as a performance in front of the whole school and their parents, when she got home she rummaged through the CDs and DVDs again, she froze when she found a DVD of her parents' wedding, she shakily pulled it out and placed it in the DVD player, seeing her parents happy made her overwhelmed to tears, she paused the footage at the point where her mother and father were smiling at each other, the front door opened, her mother had returned from work, sighing angrily as she placed her bag down.

"Chloe what have I told you about leav..." Chloe's mother trailed off when she saw what was on the tv screen, she saw her daughter crying and hugging her knees on the couch.

"I miss him" Chloe whispered.

Silently her mother sat down next to her daughter, she switched the tv off. 

“I know you miss him, honey, I miss him too” Chloe’s mother sighed. 

“I wish he was still here, he’d teach me how to teach a kid in my school a lesson” Chloe murmured. 

“Who’s bothering you dear?” Chloe’s mother asked. 

“There’s this rich kid, called Derby and he just says horrible things to me whenever I’m near him, him and his stuck up lot, they think they’re so great just because his family paid for the school” Chloe grumbled.

“Wait, whats this boy’s last name?” Chloe’s mother wondered. 

“Harrington, why?” 

Chloe’s mother’s face dropped. 

“I think I should put dinner on.”

“Mum, you’re doing it again, you’re hiding something from me, what’s going on?”

“I have to pull you out of that school right away, I was so stupid thinking we could get away.”

“Mum, you’re scaring me.”

“Go to your room!”

Chloe couldn’t deny the orders of her own mother, she was truly terrified for the mental state of her mother, seeing her like this was new, she was usually quiet and reserved, a little snappy given their circumstances but that was understandable, however this behaviour was new and scary. After a while Chloe heard crying from downstairs, her heart sunk. She couldn’t stand hearing or seeing her mother like this. The next week Chloe returned to school and she remembered about the auditions for the showcase, they were on Friday and she hadn’t prepared a song, she remembered the song her mother and father had their first dance to. 

“Rocket man?” Elizabeth questioned her friend “as in that song by Elton John?”

Chloe nodded. 

“Why didn’t you choose something less depressing?”

“I’m doing this for my dad, this was his favourite song.”

“Fair enough, uh oh, trouble in paradise at twelve o’clock.”

Chloe looked up to see Lola and Johnny fighting again. 

“This has to be the tenth time this month, I don’t know why he doesn’t dump her.”

“Oh believe me Chloe he’s tried dumping her, many times before in fact, but he keeps taking her back because he really has no one else.”

The two greasers had ceased their lovers quarrel and eventually made up, Chloe shook her head and got back to the book she was reading. A platinum blonde prep sat down in front of Chloe. 

“Bif, move the trash, I don’t want to eat in a dump” Derby ordered. 

Bif nodded and attempted to remove Chloe from her seat, she glared at him, this look caused the red-head to step back a little. He thought it was probably best not to disturb her especially since she could weaponise any object in the room.

"Look, would you mind moving, please" Bif requested politely.

"Oh, this is good, I've taught the bastard some manners" Chloe laughed to herself.

"What did you call me?"

A regular person wouldn't be so offended by being called a bastard, however if you come from a family in the one percent being called a bastard is essentially a wealthy person's equivalent of saying your mother was a prostitute, because being a bastard meant that you were born out of wedlock and for that to happen in a wealthy family meant bad news and a forced marriage.

"Oh, grow up, it's not like me calling you a bastard will kill you."

"That’s it I’ve had it up to here with you, if you’re going to be stupid like this then you’ll have to fight me.”

“Alright, go ahead, but it’s not me who’s getting suspended.”

“Not here, after school behind the auto shop, if you don’t turn up I’ll hunt you down.”

Chloe didn’t feel threatened by the prep, in fact his harsh tone and confident stature was rather attractive. Chloe groaned and barged past the prep in question. Even though it probably hurt her more than it hurt him. Chloe was growing more anxious as time rolled on, when the bell rung for the end of the day and Elizabeth hugged Chloe tightly as they left chemistry. 

“Oh god you’re going to get killed, he’s Bullworth’s champion boxer, I hope you won’t need any part of your body during your auditions on Friday.”

The severity of the situation had started to set in, she was going to get severely hurt. When Chloe wandered down to the auto shop she was shaking in fear, she spotted her opponent and a few other preps, Gord, Bryce and Parker had come to spectate, Chloe on the other hand had no one to back her up. Bif removed his sweater vest and rolled up his sleeves, the greasers had locked away their tools so she couldn’t even defend herself even if she wanted to, suddenly Bif lunged at Chloe, punching her straight in the jaw, Chloe recoiled in agony, she cried out and fell to the ground. 

“I honest to god hope you never thought you had a chance against me, I mean look at me, I’m better than you” Bif snapped. 

Chloe shakily rose from her defeated position, she spat blood from her mouth where she had bitten her tongue in result of Bif striking her. She was enraged. As Bif revelled in adulation and support from the crowd Chloe yelled and charged at Bif and she tackled him to the ground whilst he was unfocused. She removed herself from the prep and kicked him in the groin just like how she did with Johnny. This caused the prep to cry out in an unusually high tone. He didn’t seem to recover in time after that, she then spat on his face, causing him to groan in disgust. 

“That’s just bloody disgusting, what are you an animal?” Gord asked. 

“No, but I’m sick of your shit, now excuse me, the next time I throw a spanner around here it might be aimed at your head, you pompous brat.”

Johnny winced from the crowd, he knew what she was on about. After Chloe left, Bif slowly sat up, wiping Chloe’s saliva from his cheek, he had lost. He collapsed again shortly after, resting his head on the solid ground.

“Jeez man if all it took was a kick to the balls to beat you I would have taken you on a long time ago” Parker laughed. 

“I was holding back” Bif groaned, clutching his crotch in pain.

“Ooh someone’s got a severe hard on for that girl” Gord laughed.

Bif sat up quickly and looked down at his trousers. 

“I was being metaphorical you daft git, I’m surprised you could even get a hard on after what she did to you” Gord sighed and shook his head. 

Bif had to laugh at his friend’s joke, it was agony to walk back to Harrington house, he noticed that Parker was more quiet than usual.

“I think you’re too mean to her” Parker commented. 

“What do you mean?” 

“It’s just you two don’t seem to get along and most of the time she’s just defending herself, I’ve been bullied before and I know that she’s only putting up defences to stop the bullying.”

“Parker dude, she’ll walk it off, it’s not like I’m doing this on purpose.”

“You haven’t taken your meds at all this month have you?” 

“Don’t start this shit again, you know I can’t take them because I’m not allowed to.”

“Bif you’re getting angry at people for no reason, you’re picking stupid fights and getting yourself hurt, you need to take your meds.”

Bif slammed his fist against the wall, making Parker flinch.

“Don’t fucking tell me what to do or how to live my life, you have no idea what’s going on at home!”

“This is exactly my point, I’m going to bed I can’t deal with you being like this, you scare people.”

Parker sighed and walked up to his room, Bif was left alone with his thoughts, maybe Parker was right, he wasn’t taking his meds for an anger disorder he had so ‘lovingly’ been bestowed when he was fourteen, maybe that’s why he and Chloe had so much friction, after all Chloe was just defending herself at the best of times and the preps were quite nasty to her. Maybe he could try and be a bit nicer to her. 

Chloe was not at all shaken by the fight between her and Bif, she was walking home by herself, unbeknownst to her Johnny Vincent was following her. Chloe was blissfully unaware of her surroundings as she had her headphones in, suddenly she was grabbed from behind and dragged into an alleyway, she screamed for help but Johnny covered her mouth with his hand.

“Jus’ shut up doll” Johnny ordered. 

Chloe halted her muffled screaming. She was scared, her heart raced, Johnny released her from his grip.

“That’s better, Jesus doll, you have some lungs on ya” Johnny chuckled, he pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and proceeded to light it. 

“W-what do you want?” Chloe asked shakily. 

“Nothin’ much, you still owe me a kiss by the way, ‘nd I kinda have a business deal for you” Johnny informed Chloe. 

“One you’re too old for me, two I don’t care and three you need to stop talking to me before I get a restraining order against you.”

“Aw come on doll, you’re no fun you know that” Johnny sighed as he took a drag on his cigarette. 

Chloe rolled her eyes. 

“Alright what’s this business deal you have for me?” Chloe asked crossing her arms, her patience with the greaser was wearing thinner than a hydrogen atom.

“I want to get back at those rich kids, always gettin’ up in our turf, they’re lookin’ to get killed, especially with that tarty shit they wear and that, that Gord kid, I’m ain’t ever gonna forget what he did to me.”

“And how do you plan to get back at them?” 

“Showin’ Derby who’s boss, in case you haven’t noticed the little gangs we have at school work on a hierarchy, like take me and my boys for instance, you knock me down a few pegs then they’ll stop respectin’ me.”

“So hit Derby hard, and then what?” 

“Well then things will start to look up for you and us, but mainly you, you hit Derby where it hurts, then, well, his little group of inbred shit-stains will fall into place recognisin' you as a force not to be reckoned with.” 

"Fair enough do you have any way I can take Derby down?"

"Yeah, well my boys were thinkin' you could give him a wedgie." 

"Are you serious, a wedgie, is that all you have to go on?"

Chloe was dismayed in Johnny's tactics.

"Well yeah, sorry doll, my boys ain't the smartest lot." 

"You're just taking the piss now.”

Chloe begun to walk away but Johnny grabbed her arm to stop her. 

“Please doll, I can’t stand seein’ my boys get hurt.”

“Well its not my problem, sort it out yourself because I’m not that bloody school’s punching bag.” 

Johnny sighed to himself, he put out his cigarette. 

“Doll, please—”

“Oh and for the love of god stop calling me doll, it’s not cute and I don’t like it.” 

Chloe stormed off, walking home, anger in her stride. The next day it seemed awkward to make eye contact with Bif during English. Although they seemed to be on speaking terms shortly after their fight the previous day. It seemed like Chloe’s personal hell when they had to read out a scene from Romeo and Juliet together. Trent Northwick, Bullworth Academy’s own proud thespian kept criticising the pair for their performance, Chloe knew not to shout at him as he and Kirby were together and being on bad terms with Kirby due to a falling out with his boyfriend could make her friendlessness even worse. 

“Mr Northwick, could you kindly let these two read this scene” Mr Galloway snapped. 

“Alright, but in my opinion they suck” Trent muttered, he returned to rocking back on his chair.

“Trent, what have I told you about doing that, you could break your skull, or even worse break the chair” Mr Galloway sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

After English Chloe walked to lunch, she sat on her own and ate the orange marmalade sandwich her mother had prepared for her the night before. She was lonely, Elizabeth was now hanging out with Parker and the preps and Kirby was split between the jocks and the bullies, mainly sitting on Trent’s lap as he was speaking to Ted about an upcoming match, every so often Trent would nuzzle Kirby’s neck making him giggle softly. Chloe sighed after she had finished her lunch, she hated feeling this way. Chloe rummaged through her bag until she was shocked by loud interference over the PA.

‘Afternoon classes are cancelled due to an admin day, you are all free to go home’ Miss Danvers informed the entire school. Chloe was relieved because it meant that she could go home to her mother and brother, she walked straight into Johnny, her grip on her bag straps tightened in antipation

“Heya doll, are you headin’ home?” 

Chloe nodded quietly. 

“Well if it’s not too much trouble I kinda need your help, down at the auto shop.”

“Alright, but if you’re hatching some dumb plans again I’m going to leave.”

“It’s nothin’ stupid I just need your small hands to help me fix something, and besides Neil suggested that you should help me.”

Chloe rolled her eyes and she followed the greaser down to the auto shop, Bif had spotted the two leave together and he decided to keep an eye out just in case Johnny did anything funny, he followed the pair to their destination, keeping himself hidden so he wasn’t spotted. 

“So what was it that you wanted me to fix?”

“I just need you to tighten that bolt down there, I’ll go and get you a spanner, hopefully you don’t throw this one at me this time.”

“Oh yeah, I’m sorry about that, I was just angry about what you said about me.”

“Huh, I’m still pissed at Peanut for spreadin’ that, maybe you can chuck a spanner at him next, maybe you’ll knock some sense into him,”

Chloe laughed and smiled at the greaser’s comment. 

“Hey Johnny, you know you said I owed you a kiss?”

Johnny froze and he turned back to face Chloe. 

“Doll, jus’ forget about it, I wasn’t bein’ serious,”

Chloe sighed to herself, she craved some form of physical attention, it didn’t even matter if it was a forced kiss from someone who was three years her senior, she just wanted something, something like Trent and Kirby. 

“I mean, I was bein’ serious, I’m just now realisin’ how uncomfortable it made you.”

“Well I owe you…” 

Johnny rolled his eyes and kissed Chloe on the cheek. 

“There, and that’s all you’re gettin’ Lola’d kill me if we did anything other than that.”

Chloe found Lola controlling and awful, she cheated on him and always expected him to remain faithful even though she was a huge hypocrite. 

“Lola doesn’t deserve you.”

Johnny sighed and stopped what he was doing.

“I know she doesn’t doll, but ma raised me to respect women, I ain’t lettin’ her down.”

“How can you respect a woman if she doesn’t even respect you back?”

“I don’t know doll, it’s just how the world works,”

Johnny then resumed his search for the right sized spanner, Chloe inspected the car he was working on, she noticed that the battery was still in. 

“Don’t you think you should isolate the battery first, especially since that bolt is really close to the electrical stuff in here.”

“Damn it Lucky,” Johnny muttered under his breath “I told that shithead to take the battery out and he completely ignores me, he’s gonna get himself killed pullin’ this crap.”

Chloe found it endearing that Johnny almost seemed like a parental figure over his group. 

“Should I get Neil?” 

Johnny shook his head, he then cornered Chloe, who’s heart was now racing.

“I know that look doll, you need a hug.”

Johnny pulled Chloe closer into a hug, who then struggled out of his grip after a while, her heart was racing, suddenly Bif leapt out from his hiding place. Chloe was taken aback by the fact that he had the nerve to follow her and interact with her after what had happened the day before. Bif approached the two. 

“Derby wants you” Bif sighed and grabbed Chloe’s arm, he dragged her away from the auto shop. 

“Bif let go of me,” Chloe begged the prep “please” she almost cried. 

Bif heard the panic in Chloe’s voice and he let go of her, the last thing he wanted to do was hurt her, he wanted to get her away from Johnny, especially after his gang left her in a battered state, which she still had scars from. Bif sighed to himself. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to see you get hurt by him again.”

“Well I’m not five years old, I can handle myself,”

“I don’t think you fucking can!”

“Excuse me, you’re the one always starting shit with me, I’m done with you, if you can’t be mature around me then just stay the fuck away from me, if it weren't for you I would probably want to stay in this school.”

Chloe pushed the prep away with all her strength.

"Chloe wait, I'm sorry, I—"

"Fuck you, Bif!" Chloe screamed "this is all your fucking fault."

Chloe stormed off and grabbed her bag from the auto shop and she brushed past Johnny, hiding her face from him so he didn’t see that she was now crying, Johnny could tell that she was crying by her body language and he glared at the red headed prep who was now upset with what he had done.

"What the hell did you do?" Johnny asked Bif, polishing the car he was working on.

"I screwed up" Bif groaned. 

"No shit buddy, this is what I don't get with your lot, you'd think you'd be a lot more chivalrous to a broad like her, she's amazin' and you can’t see that" Johnny huffed and shook his head.

"I know she's amazing and I just keep screwing up around her, I don't want Derby to know I actually like her, he'd kick me out of Harrington house if he found out." 

"Well screw him, you're like twice his size anyway so if he has any problems give him a beatin' that he won't forget, he's guaranteed to leave you alone after that."

Chloe on the other hand cried on the bus journey back to New Coventry, none of the boys she went near treated her kindly, maybe that was just the way that the boys from Bullworth Academy were, they were awful to her. When she walked through the front door of her home she was greeted by some unusual noises from upstairs but she ignored them and she sat down in the living room and read her book, her mother screamed when she saw Chloe sitting calmly on the couch.

"Chloe what are you doing out of school?" Chloe's mother almost screamed her question at her daughter.

"I was let out early." 

Chloe spotted a strange man standing in the hallway.

"Mum if you wanted to keep me out of the house because you have a boyfriend I can go.”

“I’m not her boyfriend, I’m already married” the man retorted, adjusting his shirt, he pulled some dollar bills out of his pocket and handed them to Chloe’s mother, he then left after putting on his shoes. 

“Mum, are you…” Chloe didn’t even get to finish her sentence before seeing her mother break down into tears. 

“I’m a prostitute alright, are you happy now!” Chloe’s mother snapped. 

“But you said we had enough money to live on now.”

“It’s not about the money, well it technically is, I owe someone a lot of money and he showed up at my work telling me about it, I thought we had gotten away.”

“Why didn’t you say, I can lend you some.”

“You won’t have enough, I owe thousands, I need to tell you something, and you might not like it, but your father isn’t your father.”

“What?”

“Before you were born I wanted to support your father, see his boss wasn’t very giving with his pay-checks and we ended up struggling, so I turned to the only thing I could think of, becoming a stripper,” Chloe’s mother started “and well I had this client, and well I guess he didn’t use protection and I got pregnant with you, as time went on I was getting sicker due to my pregnancy and I couldn’t go to work, so I began to borrow and steal from my pimp, and well it didn’t end well, so after you were born I managed to quit and your and I father moved to San Fierro due to the fact that he was transferred to a different rig and well my past has caught up with me and my old pimp is giving me an ultimatum, either keep working under him or pay back all the money I took.”

“Mum why didn’t you say, haven’t you called the police?”

“What and face jail time for supporting you and Christopher, I’d rather take the abuse.”

“This is exploitation, this isn’t right, you need to tell someone, but that doesn’t tell me about who my real father is.”

“Well, you know that boy at school that’s giving you trouble because you’re from a lower income family?”

“Yeah, Derby Harrington, kinda hard not to…oh no…”

Chloe’s mother laughed awkwardly. 

“Yeah, you’re Mr Harrington’s illegitimate daughter.”

Chloe’s stomach dropped, she felt sick, sicker than usual, she couldn’t believe it, she was related to Derby Harrington, her mother tried to comfort her but she pulled away but not enough to escape being hugged. 

“Don’t touch me.”

“Chloe, it wasn’t my fault, I was desperate and he didn’t use protection, I wouldn’t change getting pregnant with you for the world, you were the best thing that had ever happened to me, you were the only light in the darkness that was my situation.”

“Did he know?”

“Who?”

“Dad, did he know I wasn’t his?”

“He found out eventually, and to be honest he wasn’t even mad, he was more understanding than angry.”

“Does Christopher know?”

Chloe’s mother shook her head.

“It’s better that we keep it that way.”

Chloe then freed herself from her mother’s arms. 

“Chloe where are you going?”

“To my room to do my homework.”


	8. The Audition

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> HHHHH many thanks to @IntrovertedCupcake for beta-ing this chapter for me, and a slight trigger warning as there is a mention of suicide and self-harm towards the end 
> 
> ~Reviews are always welcome~

Friday turned up quicker than expected and Chloe wasn’t ready to audition for the showcase. She was shaking he auditions were at the end of the day and she was suffering during geography, what happened between her and her mother the night before kept plaguing her mind as she refused to believe she was related to Derby. As the end of the day approached, she bumped into Parker.  
  
“Hey, I know you really hate me right now but good luck with your audition. It’s you, so you’ll probably do really well,” Parker beamed.  
  
“Thank you,” Chloe sighed before entering to the auditorium, where Miss Peters sat beside Mr Galloway at the table at the front. Chloe snuck in to the back row, feeling nervous. Luckily the two judges allowed everyone who was singing to use lyrics, so she searched up the lyrics to Elton John’s Rocket Man on her phone. When it was finally time for her to go on stage, she inhaled and shakily climbed up the steps. Miss Peters edged the table back a few inches just in case Chloe did decide to let her nerves get the better of her.  
  
“And what will you be performing for us?” Miss Peters asked.  
  
Chloe cleared her throat.  
  
“I’ll be performing Rocket Man by Elton John,” Chloe responded.  
  
“Okay, whenever you’re ready,” Mr Galloway grinned.  
  
Chloe nodded, she had previously given the backing track to Miss Peters during her music lesson before lunch. Luckily she had to enlist the help of her brother to make it. She looked to the crowd for support with hope, but Elizabeth hadn’t showed up like she had promised. And neither had Kirby. She had been left to fend for herself.  
  
Chloe’s lip quivered as the song started. It blurred with her mind as she sang. Voice and heart growing shaky, she noticed that a few of the preps had shown up, probably to mock her or humiliate her. She noticed her supposed half-brother Derby sitting in the front row tenting his fingers and crossing his leg, he then whispered something to his lieutenant, who nodded, when the song was nearing the end she grew nervous as to what the preps were devising. When the song was finally over Chloe exhaled a sigh of relief. She noticed that Miss Peters reached for Mr Galloway’s tie to dry her eyes.  
  
“Oh my, Chloe, that was wonderful! I think it’s safe to say we’ll be seeing you in the talent showcase in three months.”  
  
Chloe broke down into tears, overjoyed that it was finally over, plus she didn’t have to do anything like that ever again. She exited the auditorium to go and gather her things from her locker, she noticed someone approach her.  
  
“That was a really good performance,” Derby sarcastically spoke, “Honestly, if an award for most boring performance existed, you’d win it.”  
  
“Yeah loser, what’s next - are you going to do crappy little magic tricks too?” Bif laughed in response. Chloe’s grip tightened on her locker door, tears trickling down her cheeks.  
  
“You don’t understand how much that song meant to me,” Chloe sniffed, “that was my dad’s—”  
  
“As if I care; when are you going to stop pulling that ‘boo hoo please pity me because my dad died’ card?” Derby asked, rolling his eyes.  
  
Chloe felt herself tremble. She reclaimed her bag and closed her locker, ignoring the preps as they stalked her like a tiger would with its prey, and they berated her and hurled insults at her. All she required was some form of support but she never received it. Just where were Elizabeth and Kirby? Derby's insults were getting too much and she snapped.  
  
“Okay, you know what? I’m done!” Chloe snapped, right in the middle of the campus, causing the prefects to glance her way.  
  
“Done with what? Existing? Because you’d sure as hell do everyone a favour if you didn’t exist!” one of them cajoled.  
  
There was no stopping the tears now, Chloe broke down into ugly sobs, each breath now catching in her throat, she couldn’t breathe, it wasn’t long before she started hyperventilating. She tried grabbing hold of the nearest surface to steady herself which unfortunately was Derby. He pushed her away and groaned in disgust, dusting himself off in the process.  
  
“Come along, Bif, we shouldn’t be wasting our time here.”  
  
She had given up any form of hope, although it did make a change for Derby to not call her a rat. Suddenly, she was grabbed.  
  
“Chloe, I’m so so sorry, Mr Burton held up the entire cheer squad,” Elizabeth apologised, panting.  
  
“D-d-don’t apologise, it’s f-fine!” Chloe sniffed.  
  
“No, Chloe it’s not fine, look at you hon, come on, let’s get you somewhere quieter.”  
  
Elizabeth gently eased Chloe to a secluded part of the school, under the apple trees on the football field.  
  
“What happened, did you manage to perform?”  
  
Chloe nodded silently sitting with her back against the tree.  
  
“I got you something; look, I haven’t been as supportive as I had hoped, but come on I’m the first friend you made here and I’m sure as hell not letting you down.”  
  
Elizabeth pulled out two glass bottles from her bag: it was beer. However it wasn’t just any generic beer, it was a craft beer from San Fierro, one that Chloe’s father was rather fond of.  
  
“Hopefully it’s something that would remind you of San Fierro, it's better than the shit we have here.”  
  
“Liz, are you mental? We can’t drink, it's illegal!”  
  
“It's not illegal if you don't get caught,” Elizabeth winked before forcing the cap off her bottle.  
  
“Jeez Liz, I don’t exactly feel comfortable doing this, I’ll save it for my mum.”  
  
“Ugh, you’re so boring.”  
  
Chloe sighed to herself, aware that she seemed boring but she couldn’t help it. Her mother had raised her to respect rules and laws. At least she wasn’t getting arrested for something completely avoidable, like most of the kids who attended this school had.  
  
When Chloe arrived home she saw another strange man leave her house, remembering that this would be a common occurrence until her mother repaid her debt. She found her mother sobbing at the kitchen table, barely dressed. Chloe gently placed her rucksack down, pulled up another chair and cradled her mother.  
  
“Mum, it’s okay, we’ll find you a way out of this,” Chloe whispered.  
  
“I can’t escape this; I’m doomed.”  
  
“You can, I know you can, you managed to get out of it before, you raised two kids on your own on a crappy salary for nine years and you're still surviving. Honestly mum, you’re my inspiration, you’re the most hardcore woman I’ve ever met and I believe in you.”  
  
Chloe’s weekend consisted of work, she still greeted her customers with a smile and friendly service, no matter how shit her home life seemed at that time. She managed to scrimp her tips together each day she was at work and because it was a fancy coffee shop in the Vale she was allowed to take home all of her tips. Just as she expected a few preps had entered the shop; they were probably on a shopping trip but luckily Chloe could go on break without having to deal with them. Chloe snuck into the back so she could eat the pasta that she had prepared the night before.  
  
When her shift ended she began to walk home, bag on her back when she suddenly noticed Bif nearby and quickly ducked behind a bin.. It was rare and unusual that he was spotted without Derby, Chloe’s sudden outburst at the prep had caused him to become almost standoffish and cold. She bit her lip while pondering about her actions and whether they were right, Bif was only protecting her after all and didn’t mean any harm, he was just doing his job the best way he knew how.  
  
Chloe shook her head dismissing the thoughts in her head as nonsense. She thought to herself, there was no way a prep like Bif would even be interested in her, he was awful to her, he completely berated her and made her feel like she was inferior. Maybe that was his tactic, to make her submit to his wishes, but she wasn’t having any of it.  
  
She walked out from behind the bin and slammed into Bif’s solid mass of a body, by accident of course, he turned around, frowning, his emerald eyes piercing through Chloe’s confidence.  
  
“I’m sorry!” Chloe squeaked. This reaction was interesting, she had never allowed herself to get this scared before, but at the same time feeling this intimidated made her feel strange, like she wanted it.  
  
“Just...watch where you’re going next time, alright,” Bif responded calmly, which was new, something about him seemed off.  
  
“I’m gonna go.”  
  
“I can walk you home if you’re worried about the greasers, I honestly don’t mind.”  
  
Chloe’s heart started leaping out of her chest, after her outburst he still interacted with her. She felt drops of rain on her skin and had no other option but to trust her life in his hands again.  
  
“Thank you, but can we take a slow walk? I’m not in a rush.”  
  
Bif nodded, he pulled the umbrella he had out of his bag and put it up, he then linked arms with Chloe.  
  
“It’s the best way to get them to back off, if they think we’re dating they won’t try anything.”  
  
Chloe froze when he said that. She did fancy the idea of him dating her, but those feelings faded after he was being horrible to her. Bif, however, seemed calmer today than he usually was. Unbeknownst to her, Bif started taking his withheld medication for the first time in a month on Thursday, and it seemed to have a good effect on him - he didn’t feel the need to be angry for no plausible reason anymore.  
  
Chloe looked up at Bif as they walked, with newfound admiration. She felt dirty for liking him, but he almost seemed so perfect in her eyes. He was kind enough to seem protective, maybe it was Derby who was a bad influence on him and made him awful and condescending when in reality if you allowed him to speak for himself and think for himself he’d be a genuinely sweet person. And just like Bif had predicted the greasers had left the two alone, when the pair reached Chloe’s home in New Coventry, Chloe kissed the prep’s cheek, just to make it look authentic.  
  
“I’ll see you Monday,” Bif mumbled, his cheeks had reddened in response to Chloe’s affection.  
  
Chloe nodded and unlocked the front door to her residence and entered her warm and safe home, empty as for her presence as her mother is currently out at work and her brother is at his tutoring session. She couldn’t stop thinking about Bif, maybe she was confused and hit her head hard when they fought once before but she was definitely attracted to him, and she definitely couldn’t wait until Monday.  
  
At school she seemed happier now it was confirmed that Bif didn’t truly hate her. She gazed over at the red head every so often as he put his books away due to it being the end of the day, Derby sauntered over to him and started almost shouting at him, making him seem to shrink in comparison to how he was behaving before. Chloe found it sickening to see Derby treating Bif like this. Derby spotted Chloe and scowled at her, moving to approach her.  
  
“What do you want?” Chloe asked.  
  
“I’m just wondering why you haven’t killed yourself yet, I mean... haven’t you noticed that you existing has caused nothing but trouble?”  
  
“Derby, what the hell? That’s just going too far!” Bif spoke up in outrage.  
  
Chloe’s lip quivered, she walked away.  
  
“Don’t you walk away from me, rat!” Derby barked  
  
She ignored him and escaped to the library, where she found a random book on the shelf and opened it, to distract herself from the searing tears forming in her eyes, but she closed it and began to cry. Her home life was awful, her school life was deplorable... she had considered suicide once, but that was only because she missed her father so much. She was in therapy for two years and had resolved to self-harm just to cope because of her father’s death. Her scars had faded but in the right light you could still catch a glimpse of them.Chloe rolled up her sleeves and traced the lines with her finger where she had injured herself; it was a coping mechanism she regretted but it was too late to do anything about it now, what was done was done. She froze when Bif entered the library, this event caused her to roll her sleeves down quickly, no one knew and no one was supposed to know. Her heart raced.  
  
“Chloe, are you okay?” Bif asked in a hushed whisper when he approached her, crouching down on his knees.  
  
Chloe shook her head.  
  
“Jeez, okay, I’m going to have to smack Derby for that one, that was really uncalled for.”  
  
Chloe let go of all common sense and hugged Bif tightly, she cried silently into his sweater. And it seemed like an eternity before she calmed down.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	9. The Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The chapter in which we find out how much of an ass Bif's mum is :D

Tuesday morning. Art class. Chloe was falling asleep at her desk, the cause of her sleepless night, well, she was ashamed to admit that it was caused by her thinking of Bif, who nudged her in the ribs every time she nodded off.   
  
“Don’t fall asleep,” Bif hissed.   
  
“I... can’t... help it” Chloe yawned.   
  
Bif rolled his eyes. He didn’t understand why Chloe was acting like this, she was usually so energetic and optimistic especially in the morning, seeing her like this was concerning him, when the class ended Chloe ambled out of the room. Being the victim of a lack of energy depressed her and she struggled to focus on what she was completing. Even in English.   
  
Mr Galloway had torn her aside during his lesson, he was concerned for her behaviour and physical state. Seeing a struggling student in his class now became his top priority after not noticing Gary Smith’s erratic behaviour before he snapped.   
  
“Chloe, I can send you home if you’d like, you don’t look too good, I applaud your effort for coming in, though” Mr Galloway commented.   
  
“I’m fine,” Chloe tiredly mumbled.   
  
“Ah, I see what’s wrong with you now; I had many a sleepless nights in my day, just don’t overdo it, alright, you can nap in my class but promise me that you’ll get your work done at home, I’ll email any notes you missed to your mother.”   
  
When Chloe returned, she made a makeshift pillow out of her cardigan and proceeded to nap, she was so exhausted that it was beyond healthy for her to stay at school. She was jolted awake by the bell. When she woke up Bif glanced at her strangely, he looked more concerned and upset than angry that she got to nap during Mr Galloway’s lesson. Chloe brushed it off and walked to her locker; she struggled to get back into her cardigan due to the fact that she was still so groggy from her nap. Bif disbanded from his group to talk to her.   
  
“Chloe, I wanted to talk to you,” Bif piped up “in private.”   
  
Chloe sighed, and she followed the prep to a quiet part of the school, she had no idea about why he wanted to speak to her, her heart pounded. Being alone with Bif in an deserted classroom partially scared her due to the thoughts she had about him the night before, most of them being impure and very inappropriate. She remained silent but still on edge fearing what he could do.   
  
“How did you get those scars on your arm?”   
  
Chloe’s stomach dropped.   
  
“That’s none of your business…”   
  
“Chloe I’m just a little worried, you’re not acting like yourself lately.”   
  
“Oh and you think youknow me, what if I always act like this.”   
  
“Okay, look I get it your financial situation isn’t as good as you want it to be but that’s no reason to take it out on me.”   
  
Chloe was taken aback by the hypocrisy in Bif’s statement. He had no idea what she was dealing with at home and he had the nerve to make himself seem like the victim after the hell that he and his group of ‘trust fund babies’ put her through.   
  
“You think my financial situation is the cause of me lashing out all the time? You don’t know what’s going on at home, I’m struggling having to raise my brother whilst my mum does unspeakable things just to earn a living, and just so you know those scars were from when I was thirteen, dealing with the grief for my dead dad and the bullying at my old school so thanks for pointing out a part of me that I didn’t exactly want to remember. ”    
  
“Oh…” Bif seemed quiet after that.   
  
“But no Mr Taylor be my guest make fun of me even more like you inevitably do.”   
  
“Chloe, I… I’m not that cruel. ”   
  
Chloe was visibly annoyed with that comment, her face warped into a frown. She managed to bite back her tears. She nevertheless possessed enough strength to make a witty comment.   
  
“Well you could have fooled me, honestly I wouldn’t have known…” Chloe remarked sarcastically.   
  
“I just wanted to make sure that you’re okay, you’re concerning me,” Bif mumbled,  “anyway, I have to go I’ve got training.”   
  
“Training?”   
  
“Yeah, you know? Boxing? ” Bif seemed confused when Chloe questioned his apparent training “Chloe don’t tell me, it’s literally the thing I go on about a lot, what did you think Derby meant when he was talking to me about matches and shit?”   
  
Chloe shrugged her shoulders.   
  
“God I love you Chloe, you’re funny sometimes.”   
  
Bif froze after he had said that, he didn’t mean for that to come out, his cheeks flushed with colour and he tried to escape the room before he embarrassed himself further.   
  
And just as usual he remained at the boxing club, training until six o’clock, he was annoyed with what he had said to Chloe, he didn’t want to say that but his mouth and brain had betrayed him.   
  
“Stupid, stupid, stupid” Bif muttered to himself as he was training on the punching bag.   
  
“Whoa there friend, you’re going to hurt yourself” Chad warned the redhead, who stopped his training and sat with his back against the wall.   
  
“I don’t care, can’t you see I’m having a crisis here.”   
  
Chad tutted to himself, continuing his bicep curls.   
  
“What are you getting so uptight about anyway?” Chad had to pry.   
  
“I may have said something stupid to this girl I kinda like and I’m worried she took it the wrong way.”   
  
Chad sighed and then started laughing, he placed the weight he was using down.   
  
“Bif you oblivious git, we know you like Chloe, you need to work on hiding your feelings, Derby will severely castrate you for liking the likes of her, what about her do you actually like?” Chad asked.   
  
“I don’t know, she’s just so perfect for me her hugs are actually wonderful like Jesus Christ they actually feel genuinely nice, and the way she laughs it just makes me feel all warm inside and I know this sounds really shallow but she has a great body, I mean, you’ve seen her right? She’s just got everything in the right places and it’s just... ” Bif started to explain.   
  
“Oh come on, you need to calm down before you give yourself a hard on, so she’s great but she isn’t in our social class, that’s a problem.”   
  
“Christy wasn’t in our social class yet Derby never hated me for that.”   
  
“That’s because she was easy and kept you happy and quiet for a while, no offence but you have poor taste in women, you require someone who’s stable and actually ready to be committed to you, especially with your mental health issues,” Chad spoke “which reminds me, have you remembered to take your meds, I’d hate for all this progress you’re making to go to waste.”   
  
“Fuck, I forgot to take them, I’ll be right back thank you” Bif panicked, he ran to his gym bag to locate the orange pill bottle, it read Zoloft and his name on the label, he sighed to himself, and emptied one green pill into his bandaged palm. He thought back to when he was fifteen when he was first prescribed the drug, back then he had to fight for the right to take it even when the doctor was in the room.   
  
-   
  
_ “He is not taking these!” _   
  
_ “Mrs Taylor, please calm down, these are to help your son, and they’re at the lowest dosage I can prescribe a pediatric patient, of course there are your usual side effects when taking antidepressants which are all listed in this pamphlet here but if you keep an eye on his behaviour for the first couple of weeks he should be fine,” the doctor explained and then passed the pamphlet to the objecting parent. _   
  
_ “Katherine, just let the doctor try and help, it’s what’s best for Bif and we should help him, if we don’t help him now he’ll do something stupid in the future and I’m worried about him, he’s starting all these fights at school for no reason.” _   
  
_ “I don’t care, he’s not taking happy pills, I’ve seen what it can do to kids it’s unethical.” _   
  
_ Bif, on the other hand, had shrunk in the chair; he drowned out the world, ignoring his parents fighting. _   
  
_ “Bif, what do you want?” The doctor turned to the teen. _   
  
_ “I want to be normal; I hate feeling angry for no reason, it’s scaring my friends,” Bif answered quietly, wiping a tear from his cheek. _   
  
_ “Look what you’ve done Richard you’ve made him cry now,” Bif’s mother hissed at her husband, she went to comfort her son but he pulled away from her and scowled at her. _   
  
_ “Don’t you touch me, you don’t want to see me get better, after all this is your fault, if you didn’t abandon me for hours on end I wouldn’t be like this.” _   
  
_ “How dare you, a mother can have fun if she wants” Bif’s mother snapped “Dr Avery, tell him.” _   
  
_ “I’m sorry but environmental factors can play a part in developing mental health problems, for some people it’s grief, for others it’s the looming social pressure they have to deal with,” Dr Avery sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, he looked up “your son on the other hand, he feels you’re not emotionally available for him, yes you can have fun, but if it’s at the cost of your son’s mental well-being then I’m afraid you need to sacrifice that fun to take care of your own.” _   
  
_ “Don’t you fucking dare tell me how to raise my child! He needs to stop being babied all the time, it’s better that I’m not there” Bif’s mother shouted. _   
  
_ “Katherine!” Bif’s father was shocked. _   
  
_ Bif remained quiet, he hated seeing his parents fight, he just yearned for it to be over. _   
  
_ “Mr Taylor could you please remove your wife from this room I don’t think it’s doing anything productive,” Dr Avery requested. _   
  
_ Bif’s father nodded, and he walked his wife outside to the waiting room. Dr Avery turned to the boy who was slumped in his seat. _   
  
_ “Is it always like that at home?” Dr Avery asked. _   
  
_ Bif nodded, he was frightened. He froze when the door opened, his father had returned. _   
  
_ “Right, she’s waiting in the car now I suppose, hey champ, it’s alright, I’ll take you for pizza afterwards.” _   
  
_ “I’m sorry your only day off work this month was spent dealing with me” Bif apologised. _   
  
_ “I’d rather it’d be spent dealing with you and making sure that you’re happy and healthy than doing nothing about it.” _   
  
_ “Well, Mr Taylor, do you agree with what I’m prescribing your son?” Dr Avery questioned the lawyer. _   
  
_ Bif’s father nodded, this triggered Dr Avery to start typing into his computer and he printed a document off, it was Bif’s prescription to a better standard of living. _   
  
_ “You can go and collect that prescription now, it should be ready in half an hour” Dr Avery informed Bif’s father “and I’ll be seeing your son in two weeks for a check up, I’ll email you a reminder.” _   
  
_ “Okay, thank you again, come on champ, let’s go, your mother is extremely agitated as it is.” _   
  
-   
  
“Bif I'm heading back to school, are you alright?” Chad wondered when he saw the prep sitting there staring at the pill in his hand.   
  
“Yeah... I’m just… thinking,” Bif mumbled.   
  
“Hey, if you ever need someone to talk to, I’m here for you” Chad reassured the redhead and left the boxing gym.   
  
Bif nodded, he sheepishly swallowed the pill and drank some water to wash it down, he also wiped away a tear that rolled down his cheek, he would rather forget about his memories but with his mother still acting the same way two years later he found it hard to forget. Some called what his mother was doing ‘narcissism’ but he just called it ‘tough love,’ he did admit he was being babied; he liked having the attention since he was an only child but at the same time he felt it was wrong of him to constantly seek attention from his parents. When he left the boxing gym, he zipped his jacket up and put his gloves on. It was cold.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	10. Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bro, I know another Bif centred chapter but come on he needs some love. It isn't all just about my gal Chloe.

The gym was cold. Chloe couldn’t help but shiver, winter was really setting in now and being hit in the legs with dodgeballs whilst it was cold was the worst experience to deal with, it hurt so much even with her bullworth approved sweatpants on. Mr Burton sighed to himself and signalled the jocks to chuck more dodgeballs at her.  
  
“Come on Chloe you’re supposed to be dodging them, not hugging them!” Mr Burton yelled.  
  
“I’m trying” Chloe cried out trying her hardest to deflect the balls.  
  
“Oh just get off the court, you obviously can’t play this properly,” Mr Burton groaned “next!”  
  
 Chloe felt anger burning in her stomach, she felt sick. She decided it was best to leave the room before she snapped or said anything stupid. She stormed off to the locker room, she felt like a failure, her lip quivered and her hands shook, this wasn’t her type of sports, she longed to run, she needed to run. When she had calmed down she returned to the main room of the gymnasium, she located Elizabeth who looked like she was in agony. She glanced down at the game that was going on, it was the preps vs the jocks. She smiled when she spotted Bif, she thought he looked attractive in his gym kit. It showed off every detail of his body, she grew worried when she saw his knee and elbow were bandaged.  
  
“I can tell what that look is, you have a crush on him don’t you?” Elizabeth asked quietly, with a slight giggle in her voice.  
  
Chloe bashfully nodded.  
  
“Don’t look now” Elizabeth laughed and then winked.  
  
 This strange comment caused Chloe to look over at the prep who had now taken his shirt off, he must have gotten too hot, her stomach dropped, she almost died inside a little when she was caught looking, Bif smirked, he knew she was checking him out, Chloe wanted to hide almost, but at the same time she couldn’t stop looking, his body looked perfect, there was no way that his body matched that of a seventeen-year-old. He quickly pulled his shirt back on, realising everyone else was staring.  
  
“Oh Jesus” Chloe muttered quietly to herself, she had to look away eventually, ignoring the red heat in her cheeks as she placed her head in her hands, clearly embarrassed for what she had done.  
  
“Hey Chloe it’s alright, I’m sure he appreciates you checking him out” Elizabeth whispered.  
  
“Quiet, you’re just making it worse” Chloe hissed.  
  
“Come on, it’s killing me, you two would be cute together.”  
  
“As if, he probably doesn’t care about me, he could do better than date me.”  
  
 Chloe sighed to herself, she longed for romantic attention from him, but she was right, he could do better.  
  
 After gym class ended the everyone got changed, Bif slowly followed behind his friends, he felt anxious to get changed in front of everyone else, he noticed that the football team we’re changing for lunch time practice, he felt butterflies in his stomach. He felt down about his body, even though he exercised properly and ate right he just didn’t feel right, he looked at Ted mainly, that was until the jock noticed. He scowled and approached the prep.  
  
“So, what are you looking at fag?” Ted asked, snarling his every word.  
  
“N-nothing” Bif stumbled on his words, his cheeks reddened out of pure embarrassment..  
  
“Don’t stare at me, or in my direction then, fag” Ted growled.  
  
Ted began to walk away, back to his group.  
  
“What are you so insecure and worried a guy is checking you out and finding you attractive then?” Bif asked, mistakenly.  
  
Ted quickly turned back and dealt an agonising blow to Bif’s stomach.  
  
“I don’t know why they call you a boxer you can’t even defend yourself, gaylord.”  
  
Bif fell to the floor, he wretched in response to the pain, he couldn’t breathe. Ted’s insults were fading away, he couldn’t hear anything.  
  
“You’re weak and pathetic” Ted snapped.  
  
-  
  
_“Weak and pathetic, that’s what he is, he should stop crying, he’s almost sixteen!” Bif’s mother snapped “and he’s not taking these fucking pills!”_  
  
_The teen heard these cruel words from downstairs, he sobbed into his pillow._  
  
_“Katherine stop shouting, this is what the doctor ordered and we should listen to him.”_  
  
_“I don’t care, he’s not taking those pills, I may be a shitty mother but at least I’m not letting my son be poisoned.”_  
  
_Bif heard a slam, he flinched even though the sound was emanating from the floor below._  
  
-  
  
“I’m not fucking weak” Bif spat and he lunged at Ted, the two fought. Bif went to land one of his signature jabs but Ted dodged causing Bif to punch the tiled flooring; the impact sounded out with an agonising crack.  
  
Bif yelled out in pain. He started hyperventilating due to the pain.  
  
“What’s wrong gayboy, didn’t it hurt the first few times we fought?”  
  
Ted pinned the prep down and restrained his arms.  
  
“I bet you’re regretting ditching wrestling now aren’t you?”  
  
Bif cried out. Mr Burton walked in and saw the scene, he pulled the two apart. He glared at the football star, then at the prep.  
  
“You sons of bitches better have a good excuse for this!” Mr Burton screamed “get dressed.”  
  
The gym teacher practically threw the prep into the lockers, he groaned in pain.  
  
“I expected better from you” Mr Burton hissed at Ted. He walked over to Bif who flinched, he pulled his hand away.  
  
“Broken hand? I’m not surprised, go see the nurse you sack of shit” Mr Burton snapped.  
  
 After lunch Bif walked solemnly to geography, his hand wasn’t broken, luckily, but he had injured it badly, which meant no boxing for six weeks, this disappointed Derby greatly, resorting to his backup, Parker made him angry.  
  
“What on God’s green earth were you thinking, fighting with a commoner like him?” Derby asked, snarling almost.  
  
 Bif shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to continue with his work, Chloe hadn’t turned up and it worried him, it was only after an hour she did eventually turn up and she looked upset. She sat down quietly and tried to focus on the lesson but it was no use, she was worried.  
  
“Chloe what’s wrong?” Bif had to ask.  
  
“My ex transferred to this school, and I think I just saw him in the halls, I’m scared.”  
  
“Oh god, are you going to be okay?”  
  
 Chloe sighed and buried her face in her hands.  
  
“I don’t know” she spoke with a low mumble, just loud enough for the prep to hear.  
  
“Okay, okay, why don’t I take your mind off things? Let’s see, are you going anywhere nice for spring break?”  
  
“I don’t think so, my mum doesn’t have that money to spare right now.”  
  
“Is there anywhere you’d like to go?”  
  
“Spain, or San Fierro, I don’t know, I just want to get away from here.”  
  
 Chloe was trembling, she couldn’t stop thinking of her ex, he was following her around everywhere, not even considering that what he was doing was creepy. She flinched when she felt a hand on her back.  
  
“It’s alright, I know you’re just really scared of your ex right now, which means he did something awful to you, if you want me to kick the shit out of him for you, I can” Bif offered kindly.  
  
“Thank you but I think my method of just avoiding him is doing fine.”  
  
“Alright, but my offer is always there” Bif laughed.  
  
 This caused Chloe to laugh as well. Derby, on the other hand, was witnessing this exchange and he was not pleased, _how dare someone as poor as her talk to the likes of Bif,_ he thought, he then shook his head and completed his work, he needed to have words with his lieutenant about fraternising with the paupers. And he did. But he only waited until they weren’t in the public eye for his scolding.  
  
“How could you, I told you that harlot is not to be befriended and you deliberately disobey me, your meds have made you soft,” Derby ranted “Oh and just so you know if I ever find out that you’re having relations with her, I will personally kick you out of Harrington House myself.”  
  
“Honestly what’s your problem with her? She isn’t all that bad once you get to know her, if you think she’s not worth knowing just because of her financial status, you are shallow and classist” Bif grumbled.  
  
“If I didn’t know any better you sound like you’re starting to turn into a filthy liberal” Derby snorted.  
  
“Maybe I am” Bif retorted.  
  
“Well you know the rules, republicans only, so I won’t have any of that liberal nonsense besmirching our good name” Derby sighed.  
  
“You mean your good name?” Bif muttered.  
  
“What was that?”  
  
 Bif was wringing his hands slowly, he was nervous. Derby approached him slowly, and he lifted the redhead’s chin with his index finger.  
  
“What ever happened to us?” Derby asked solemnly.  
  
“Your dad hates same sex relationships, that’s what happened” Bif uttered.  
  
“You know, there’s still a chance for us, Pinky doesn’t even have to know” Derby purred, he leaned in but Bif felt panic flush over his body and he held out his arms to push his leader away.  
  
“Is that all you view me as? you’re such a pig” Bif growled.  
  
“Bif wait, please listen-”  
  
“No, you listen, you’re horrible to me and you treat me like shit, you don’t deserve my love and quite frankly you make my anger disorder worse” Bif croaked dryly, he stormed up the stairs, leaving the blonde to stew on his actions.  
  
He’s too perfect, Derby thought to himself and he sat down quietly, his mind wandered back to times where he and Bif found each other making out in secret not letting their parents know, that thought amused him, that was their secret love affair, and it felt so special to him. But his father had to go and ruin it all.  
  
-  
  
  _A cool summer breeze, it was_ the perfect _atmosphere, Bif breathed in the fresh sea air, he felt privileged to have been invited to his boyfriend’s parents summer home, he removed himself from the balcony and walked down the halls to find Derby’s room, he found the prep sleeping_ in _his shirt and spooning a pillow, he slipped into bed next to him._  
  
_“Good morning gorgeous” Bif whispered, leaving a trail of kisses up the nape of Derby’s neck._  
  
_“Why don’t you make out with me again, I really liked last night” Derby murmured, he then rolled over to face the redhead._  
  
_“Wait really?” Bif wondered quietly._  
  
_Derby nodded and bit his lip._  
  
_“Stop biting your lip like that it’s too adorable” Bif spoke in a low tone, kissing the blonde, slowly and passionately, Derby had no option but to pull Bif’s hips into his, allowing a gentle low moan to escape his lips._  
  
_“Jesus” Derby muttered through gritted teeth._  
  
_“I love you” Bif uttered._  
  
_This left Derby frozen in shock, no one had ever said that to him before, he felt the tears well up in his eyes, he brushed his knuckles against Bif’s cheek._  
  
_“I-I love you too” Derby responded, he was about to kiss the redhead back, but his bedroom door opened suddenly, his father had walked in, and his face warped into an expression of anger, disappointment and sadness._  
  
_“Derby what the fuck are you doing!?” Derby’s father screamed at the blonde, both he and Bif froze on the spot._  
  
-  
  
 Bif sobbed into his pillow, it was hard for him to forget those memories, he had to move on and Chloe was his only option, but he hated himself for the fact that he kept managing to hurt her, he didn’t want to hurt her, he loved her more than anything in the world yet he kept screwing up around her. But he had a plan and he wanted to make sure it worked.  
  
  
  



	11. Stupid Mistake

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long to release, I was super busy and I was really doubting whether I should continue this at all...well it's here now enjoy

There wasn’t any other way that the weatherman on the radio could emphasise how cold it was in New England. Winter was setting in, and Chloe then realised that the clock in the kitchen was an hour out. It read 8:00 instead of 9:00.   
  
“Shit!”  
  
 Chloe rushed to get ready, she was shaking, she had never been late for school before, her heart was pounding, why did she have to be late on a day when she had maths, Mr Hattrick was by far her worst teacher, and he wasn’t afraid of using physical punishment whenever someone stepped out of line. When the end of maths drew ever closer Chloe’s heart rate reached unhealthy speeds making her feel woozy at best.  
  
“Might I remind you of the punishment for being late to my class” Mr. Hattrick boomed, reaching into his drawer to pull out a wooden ruler.   
  
 Chloe gulped almost her trembling had become a lot worse, mainly due to the adrenaline coursing through her veins from the running she had to endure. Mr. Hattrick, of course, grabbed her wrist and placed her hand down on the desk and he struck her knuckles with the ruler, Chloe didn’t feel the pain at first due to her being so upset, but after a while the stinging pain grew in intensity, at lunch she avoided everyone she would usually talk to, including Elizabeth, she shrunk in her cardigan, barely able to move her hand, it stung, she sniffed as she ate her lunch.  
  
“Hey, you’ve been avoiding me lass,” a familiar voice rang out with a Scottish twang.   
  
 Chloe’s stomach dropped, she sheepishly looked up and saw the disappointed face of her ex. She had no option but to interact with him. She couldn’t articulate her words properly.   
  
“Aye lass it’s alright, there’s no need to apologise I understand, I hated the way we left things, can we just start over?”   
  
“Devin, you know we can’t, not until you learn to behave proper-” she couldn’t even finish her sentence before she felt the scot force his lips onto hers. She wanted so badly to throw up when she was released from this disgusting action she looked around and spotted Elizabeth, who was staring at her, shocked and bewildered.   
  
Chloe couldn’t help but mouth ‘help me, please’  
  
 Elizabeth knew what she had to do, she gained the attention of Bif who was laughing with his fellow clique members, he ceased jovial behaviour and he turned to look at Chloe, his expression changed to one of anger. He stood up and walked over to the situation, dragging Parker with him.   
  
“Erm Chloe, don’t you think you should be cleaning up Harrington house now?” Bif asked sternly, knowing this was the only way to get this predatory imbecile away from Chloe.   
  
“Yeah, and I don’t want to see you stop until I can see my face in the floorboards” Parker confidently spoke, adding to the realism by crossing his arms.   
  
“Don’t speak to her like that!” Devin barked.  
  
“And what are you going to do about it?” Bif clenched his fists emphasising his words, Chloe heard the prep’s knuckles crack.   
  
 Chloe sighed to herself and packed up what little lunch she didn’t get to eat, she followed the preps out of the dining hall, they took her outside to the football field.  
  
“Are you alright?” Bif questioned Chloe.   
  
Chloe hugged Bif.   
  
“Thank you, I was just so scared.”  
  
“No problem, it’s the least we could do” Bif chuckled and ruffled Chloe’s hair.   
  
“Do I still have to clean up?” Chloe asked quietly.  
  
“Only if you want to, after school of course, and I can pay you, free labour destroys the economy” Bif responded with a small laugh. His smile faded when he noticed Parker’s aggravated expression.  
  
  
  
 At the end of the day Chloe packed up to go home, however, she was being followed by a certain bitter ex of hers, she did pick up on a presence, and it was unnerving.   
  
“Devin, for fuck's sake, stop following me, I don’t love you anymore, and I never will” Chloe groaned, she stopped walking suddenly which shocked the Scot ever so slightly.   
  
“Come on Chlo, you haven’t given me another chance yet, how do you know I haven’t changed?” Devin sighed.   
  
 Chloe turned back on herself in anger, she stormed up to the Scot and prodded his chest with her index finger.  
  
“People like you don’t ever change, you’re a monster, you’re awful and you treated me like shit,” Chloe growled “let me make this clear, stay out of my way or I will hurt you!”   
  
 She walked back in the direction of the school, she was annoyed, upset and scared, how she was feeling all of those emotions at once confused her. She knew the only place she felt safe was with Bif, he could help her. She knocked on the wooden door, and her heart raced as Bif answered the door.  
  
“Can I help you?” Bif asked kindly.  
  
“My creep of an ex is following me home, can I just stay here for a bit, please” Chloe requested with a small sniffle, this caused the leaning prep to stand up straight, he felt the need to protect her.  
  
‘Sure, sure, do you want anything hot to drink? it’s cold out” Bif offered.  
  
 Chloe shook her head and entered the extravagant fraternity house, much to Derby’s dismay, he glared at Bif.  
  
“Bif, a word” Derby sighed, placing the newspaper he was reading down “now!” He then snapped causing both Chloe and Bif to flinch, Bif rolled his eyes he then gestured to the couch, giving Chloe permission to sit down.   
  
“Put this down before you sit there” Derby hissed and threw his newspaper at Chloe. She felt slightly offended by this action but what could she do, if she spoke out she would just make it worse for herself. She did as she was told and placed the newspaper down and sat on the couch, she sighed, feeling ever more anxious as time went on. It wasn’t until Bif returned that she felt at ease. She looked down at the ground and stared at the carpet.  
  
“I should probably go, you guys wouldn’t want someone like me here anyway, I’m sorry I wasted your time” Chloe sighed, Bif couldn’t get his words out quick enough before she left, he turned to Derby and gave him a mildly annoyed glare.   
  
“See, this is what you cause, she needs our help, and you’re just giving her the cold shoulder all the time, damn I should have walked her home, she isn’t safe.”  
  
 Derby shook his head slowly and walked up to his room, Bif could hear a slam which made him flinch. He remained seated unsure of what action to take next; on one hand he could betray his leader and help Chloe but on the other hand, he could remain there doing nothing as Chloe was taken advantage of by her ex. He groaned in frustration as his thoughts whirled in his mind. That was it he had to do something. He was running out the school gates, past a prefect who raised his voice at the prep. Bif spotted Chloe walking slowly, she seemed wary of her surroundings.  
  
“Chloe! Chloe wait please just let me walk you home I’ll feel super guilty if something happened to you” Bif mumbled as soon as he caught up with her.  
  
 Chloe seemed indifferent to this offer, this was now to be expected. She had befriended someone who was rather protective and dominant. Bif did eventually walk Chloe back to her home safe and sound, there was a lingering feeling of awkwardness, Chloe turned away to unlock the front door when suddenly she felt Bif’s hand on her shoulder, she nervously looked around to see what the prep was doing.  
  
“Are you going to be okay? Do you need me to do anything for you?” Bif asked gently.  
  
“Well, there is this one thing…” Chloe whispered.  
  
“Yeah?”  
   
 In Chloe’s mind time seemed to slow down as the actions she took unfolded. She felt stupid for what she had done but at the same time, it was hard not to resist kissing him. Bif was frozen in shock as Chloe pressed her lips against his, he had no choice but to hold her by the waist to stop her from losing her balance due to the fact that she was tip-toeing to reach his face. As he inhaled he could smell the lingering scent of cherries and he almost lost all form of reasonable thought when he felt how warm and soft Chloe’s body was. He had to break away before he embarrassed himself. He was left breathless by the sudden kiss but the overwhelming fear had suddenly caught up with him.  
  
“Chloe...I, I have to go” Bif stumbled on his words, he turned away quickly and exited the scene with haste.  
  
“Bif wait! I’m sorry” Chloe called after the prep, he didn’t respond.  
  
-  
  
 The next day seemed to be awkward for the two of them, neither of them could make serious eye contact and it made group work in class difficult, Chloe’s face stayed redder than ever, she wanted to hide because of what she had done the night before.   
  
‘Oh well’ she thought ‘he can go back to hating you now.’   
  
 And she was right he did go back to hating her and it felt almost natural again, no potential embarrassment to deal with, no stressful conversations to explain herself and her actions. It was bliss.  
  
“So what happened?” Elizabeth asked Chloe quietly at lunch.  
  
“I don’t want to talk about it” Chloe murmured.  
  
“Come on something must have happened between you two because you’re acting all awkward near each other again.”  
  
“So what if we’re acting awkward, he's a prep he's supposed to hate me” Chloe almost snapped.  
  
“Chloe that's not entirely true, he does have a heart you know” Elizabeth giggled.  
  
“Well obviously not when he talks to me now just drop it because you’re embarrassing me!” Chloe shouted and before long she felt tears roll down her cheeks.  
  
Her stomach dropped when she realised how loud she was being, Devin looked over at her with a worried look on his face, he walked over to comfort her. Chloe had no choice but to hug him.  
  
“Lassie why don’t we talk about this, you seem stressed.”  
  
Chloe nodded and she followed Devin to the football field. He allowed her to sit down and to explain herself.  
  
“I did something stupid and I kissed Bif yesterday” Chloe murmured, she was shaking having to talk to someone who made her anxiety worse was, well, making her anxiety worse.  
  
“Really? You're such a huge slut Chlo” Devin hissed.  
  
“Devin! I just-” Chloe cried out in attempt to help her case.  
  
“No just get the fuck away from me, all this effort I put in just means nothing to you” Devin growled.  
  
“What effort? You literally let me take your beatings for you because you were too much of a pussy to deal with your own problems” Chloe whined at the Scot.  
  
 Devin sighed exasperatedly and strolled off. She felt awful having to sit through English having to avoid her group for a class project. Bif wouldn’t look at her and Parker was getting infuriated due to the fact that he was “essentially doing all the work.” It wasn’t until Chloe stormed out of the classroom Parker began to worry, he began to chase after her thinking it was his fault that she was getting upset.  
  
“I can’t do this, I can’t work with him” Chloe sobbed.  
  
“Hey now, what happened?” Parker asked sympathetically.  
  
“I was so stupid I shouldn’t have done it” Chloe cried “I k-kissed B-Bif and I’m s-so sorry.”  
  
“Why are you apologising?” Parker was getting worried now “that bloody idiot likes you so much, surely it's a good thing that you two kissed.”  
  
Chloe shook her head.  
  
“He seemed like he hated me so much for doing it.”   
  
“He doesn’t hate you I promise he's just being a stubborn idiot like usual, his emotions are complicated at the moment” Parker sighed and slipped his arm around Chloe’s shoulder, pulling her in for a hug.


	12. Abuse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof heck I think I might take a big hiatus on this for a while I have another fic I really want to work on atm for Detroit: Become Human and I need to step back on this for a few weeks or so, don't worry I'll upload chapter 13 before I go on hiatus ^^

“Who was that you were talking to?” Devin asked quietly, pressing his nose and mouth into Chloe’s neck.  
  
“He was just my lab partner, I just needed some notes from when I wasn’t in yesterday” Chloe replied fearfully, which in turn caused Devin’s grip on her to tighten.  
  
“Don’t fucking lie to me” Devin murmured. His voice growling almost.  
  
“I’m sorry I...I just-” she was silenced by a deafening slap that left her ear ringing for a while afterwards.  
  
 The impact from the slap jolted Chloe awake, Parker jumped at the sudden movement from his friend he looked over at the shaking girl who was wide-eyed and traumatised, she could barely hold her pen, she flinched when she felt an arm around her shoulder, squeezing her gently. It was Parker.  
  
“Do you need a minute outside, or do you want him instead?” Parker wondered.  
  
“I d-don’t know what I want” Chloe stammered.  
  
“Hmm let's go outside, that’ll be a starter for ten” Parker smiled gently.  
  
Chloe sighed and followed the prep. He hugged her gently.  
  
“Look I know we haven’t been able to talk for a while but I’m ready to listen to your troubles” Parker murmured.  
  
“I had this ex, and he was so awful to me, I just, I don’t know why I allowed him to get to me, I thought he was different than the others, he was the first guy I allowed to get close to me intimately, but he just took advantage of that and used my actions against me” Chloe whispered “I keep seeing him around and my heart just sinks knowing that he still wants to be with me, I don’t want to be with him anymore, and half of me just thinks he transferred to this school just to get closer to me.”  
  
“Chloe, by took advantage of you, he didn’t…” Parker stopped himself from uttering those words so loudly especially in a school like Bullworth Academy “...he didn’t rape you, did he?” he then continued in an almost whisper.“Oh goodness no, I’m still a massive virgin” Chloe laughed quietly “... but he did touch me...sometimes when I’m lying in bed I still remember how his hands felt, I just try and get those images out of my head but I just can’t forget it, I was supposed to be having a nice day out with my friends but he just couldn’t help himself, I sat there frozen in silence as he…” Chloe sniffed.  
  
“Chloe hon, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, the last thing I want to do is make you feel-” Parker started but then stopped when he looked up and saw Bif “oh hey.”  
  
“Parker, can you just leave us alone for a bit” Bif requested quietly.  
  
“Uh, sure, hey Chloe if you need someone to vent to I’ll give you my number okay, I’m no therapist but everyone needs someone to talk to when they’re feeling down.”  
  
Chloe nodded and mouthed a ‘thank you’ to Parker for his kindness and his time.  
  
“Look whatever you have to say to me just say it, I just don’t need this right now” Chloe groaned.  
  
“I heard, I didn’t realise he was this bad, I can set Gord on him, he’s always good with teaching people a lesson,” Bif suggested “Look you aren’t part of our clique but if it was up to me would you...would...uh nevermind, this is stupid I’m sorry.”  
  
“Bif?” Chloe looked up at the towering prep in confusion, yearning for the question he was going to ask.  
  
“I was just wondering if you’d like to have dinner with me this Saturday, you know, as an apology for how shitty I’ve been acting” Bif offered, his hands starting to become clammy with fear of rejection.  
  
“Are you sure you haven’t got the wrong girl?” Chloe was shocked at this offer “usually I’ve never seen you apologise for your behaviour especially to girls in my class.”  
  
“Well maybe I want to start putting things right, I am next in line after Derby graduates after all” Bif murmured.  
  
“Ah, makes sense, well then I’ll gladly accept, I haven’t got work, but please nothing too fancy I get uncomfortable when I’m in a place where I can’t be myself, y’know?” Chloe grinned.  
  
“Yeah, yeah I get it don’t worry” Bif smiled

* * *

  
  
“Dev, get the fuck up now!” Jamie almost screeched.  
  
“Mmmh, five more minutes” Devin murmured softly from his slumber.  
  
Jamie sighed angrily and ripped the duvet off Devin’s bed.  
  
“Look I know its a weekend but you’ve got to get up” Jamie grumbled. Having to time keep his eighteen-year-old brother was emotionally exhausting and he hated it. But what was he supposed to do, he wasn’t the favourite child anyway. His parents always favoured Devin more even with the horrible things he did. Jamie sighed and walked back downstairs to find his mother reading a book and his father was watching television, they barely noticed him. Jamie slunk away to the kitchen to get something to eat.  
  
“Two more years” Jamie murmured to himself, eating the pitiful bowl of cereal he had poured himself. His parents finally left for work.  
  
“God you look thin” Devin commented. After he walked downstairs in just his boxer shorts.  
  
“It's just my fast metabolism” Jamie muttered.  
  
“Aye and I’m a wizard, Jamie if you’re getting bad again just tell someone they’re not going to bite” Devin laughed.  
  
“That's the problem I can’t tell anyone, therapy ain’t free in this country” Jamie groaned.  
  
“Look you just barely recovered from your eating disorder the last time” Devin sighed pinching the bridge of his nose.  
  
“Don’t act like you care!” Jamie hissed, slamming the bowl down in the sink.  
  
“Whoa whoa whoa don’t you use that tone with me laddy!” Devin snapped.  
  
“Well, I’m sorry your little brother is a huge fuck up that no one likes!” Jamie screamed.  
  
“Jay…” Devin started “…I’m going out, do you want anything?”  
  
 Jamie didn’t answer, he brushed past his brother and escaped to his room to complete his homework. He was hungry but eating was just giving into weakness, he couldn’t be weak. After lying down for a considerable amount of time Jamie heard a knock at his bedroom door.  
  
“Jay, open up, I got you a sandwich, I can’t watch you kill yourself if anyone's killing themselves any time soon, it's me” Devin sighed.  
  
“Just go away” Jamie groaned into his pillow.  
  
“Jay, please, you need to eat something.”  
  
Jamie reluctantly opened the door, he felt faint, he had to grab hold of his older brother for support.  
  
“How long have you been doing this to yourself?” Devin asked quietly “you look really ill.” He helped Jamie back to his bed so he could sit down.  
  
“Ever since we moved here, I just needed some control in my life and I felt like this was the only thing I could do” Jamie murmured.  
  
“Jeez, I’m sorry I didn’t notice it sooner” Devin murmured remorsefully “I’ve just been so focused on getting Chlo back I just didn’t realise you were struggling.”  
  
“It’s fine, not a lot of people notice me anyway” Jamie whispered sadly, letting his long cascading hair fall.  
  
“Well then you know what we have to do, give you a haircut” Devin laughed “only after you eat that sandwich though, I don’t want you to be hospitalised.”  
  
“Okay,” Jamie sighed.

* * *

  
  
 At the boxing gym Bif was helping Gord train.  
  
“So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about, old chap?” Gord wondered.  
  
“Chloe is having issues with an awful guy at the moment” Bif told him.  
  
“You want me to help you with that pauper girl? Look Lola was fun but I’m not fraternising with paupers again, who knows what filthy diseases they have” Gord groaned.  
  
“No, that's not what I meant, I want you to help me with her ex, he's been harassing her and she can’t take it” Bif spoke as he corrected his friend’s method of sit-ups.  
  
“Bif I’m not talking to paupers or touching them for that matter” Gord huffed as he stopped his sit-ups.  
  
“Listen-”  
  
“No Bif, you listen, I am not doing it” Gord snapped.  
  
“Please, Gord I need you to do this for me” Bif begged almost “this is the only favour I’m going to ask of you, I need Chlo to trust us, and she's not going to if we don’t help her.”  
  
“She really means that much to you, huh?” Gord asked.  
  
Bif nodded quietly.  
  
“Good god man, just fuck her already” Gord laughed.  
  
Bif recoiled in horror with his face flushing with pure burning crimson.  
  
“Don’t say that!” Bif hissed.  
  
“Oh come on, it's obvious that's what you want” Gord smirked.  
  
“Okay...maybe that's what I want, but not now I don’t fuck people I don’t know that well” Bif sighed pinching the bridge of his nose “I just want to get to know her better which is what tonight was supposed to be for.”  
  
“Ooh look at you being a gentleman, if you weren’t straight I’d eat you up you’re absolutely adorable sometimes” Gord laughed.  
  
“Whoa who said I was straight?” Bif frowned.  
  
“Your complete interest in girls says you’re straight, unless…you’re a bisexual who has more of a preference for girls” Gord mumbled, he looked over at the redhead who nodded almost shamefully “No way, I thought I was the only bisexual prep” he then gasped.  
  
“Surprise” Bif faked his enthusiasm.  
  
“Oh man, I’m sorry I forced you out like this” Gord sighed “I’m proud of you though.”  
  
“Eh, its fine” Bif mumbled.  
  
“Come on, I’ll help you get ready for tonight, I have a tie you can borrow” Gord offered gently.  
  
The water pelted down in the shower, Bif groaned almost pleasurably as the warm water soothed his aching muscles from training, he washed his hair and his body. When he got out of the shower he noticed the slight stubble growing on his cheek.  
  
‘How long has this been here?’ He thought amusedly to himself, the last time he shaved was almost two weeks ago. After shaving, he walked down the hall to his room only to hear humming and tutting. He opened the door to see Gord tossing some of his clothes in a black bin liner.  
  
“Hey, Gord, no my mum bought me that shirt!” Bif screeched and stopped the brunette from discarding the rest of his possessions.  
  
“Look, do you want Chloe to run away screaming? This blouse is horrendous” Gord raised his eyebrow “oh and are these last season’s Calvin Klein's I can’t let you go out like this.”  
  
“Gord, stop, she’s not going to care, this isn’t a date” Bif pleaded.  
  
“You say that trust me you may think this dinner won’t end in sex but it might” Gord laughed.  
   
 Bif sighed to himself and flopped on his bed.  
  
“Should I just cancel, I’m just scared I’ll never be good enough for her” Bif murmured.  
  
 Gord snapped his gaze back to the redhead almost looking at him in horror.  
  
“A gentleman does not cancel, an asshole does, do you want to be an asshole, Bif?”  
  
 Bif shook his head slowly, he slipped into his briefs and assisted his comrade in picking out a decent and smart looking outfit for the dinner.  
  
“Ooh Bif, this suit right here, its an oldie of yours but it still looks ravishing, do try it on” Gord gasped loudly causing Bif to jump. The redhead took the simple black suit and he tested the fit, it managed to fit perfectly.  
  
“Are you sure though Gord, I just don’t look right” Bif muttered.  
  
“Because you haven’t got a tie on that's why,” Gord smiled and produced one of his ties from his back pocket, he then proceeded to put it on for the prep standing before him “anyone would be lucky to have you, Bif.”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“Certainly, I mean look at you.”  



End file.
